Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 19,895 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,389,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $225,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $641,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $636,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,594,000 after acquiring an additional 7,913 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. China Renaissance began coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $280.42 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $309.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $95.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $230.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $161.03.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $1,833,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at $36,932,163.62. This trade represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 66,954 shares of company stock worth $17,111,480 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.