J. Goldman & Co LP Raises Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

J. Goldman & Co LP lifted its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 379.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 386,275 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 305,693 shares during the quarter. J. Goldman & Co LP owned about 0.11% of Western Digital worth $23,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. S.A. Mason LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $44.10 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.12 and a 200 day moving average of $56.26.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.15.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.