4,842 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Acquired by Ethos Financial Group LLC

Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,842 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,736,003,000 after purchasing an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Western Digital by 130.0% during the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $203,337,000 after buying an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $139,476,000 after buying an additional 52,140 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Western Digital by 107.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,222,000 after buying an additional 1,742,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,933,278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $118,574,000 after buying an additional 216,387 shares during 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 related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the sale, the insider owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at $13,687,602.84. This represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at $10,121,547.78. This represents a 9.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 69,730 shares of company stock worth $6,935,394 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Western Digital from $135.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush upped their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.47.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $162.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $55.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $167.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.82.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.28%.

Western Digital 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.