Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV Grows Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV grew its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,530 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,595 shares during the quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WDC. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas raised its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beta Wealth Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $49.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.59. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WDC. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.15.

About Western Digital

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.