Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Sells $94,887.52 in Stock

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $55.45 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.16. 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 company has a market cap of $19.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.20 and a beta of 1.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.58%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.84.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 78.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,460 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 74,848 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,463,000 after buying an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 46,595 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,778,000 after buying an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 11,013 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.