CNB Bank Takes $37,000 Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

CNB Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $203,337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 107.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $136,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,897,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,406,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $22,849,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $92.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Western Digital from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.84.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 3,160 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $239,148.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,388,460.80. The trade was a 9.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total value of $654,333.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,148,052.40. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $129.43 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $137.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.04.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

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.