Western Digital Co. (WDC) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 4th

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 29th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.10 per share by the data storage provider on Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th.

Western Digital has a dividend payout ratio of 7.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Western Digital to earn $8.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.9%.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.5%

Western Digital stock opened at $51.74 on Monday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.43. The company has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. TD Securities decreased their target price 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. Benchmark raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.95.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Western Digital stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 229.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.