Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP Acquires 1,418 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP grew its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 115.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,647 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares during the period. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 24.9% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 125,880 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,089,000 after buying an additional 25,124 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 48.3% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,209 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 2,348 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 10.2% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 26,683 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 126,223 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,303 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total transaction of $28,557.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,682.50. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 32,510 shares of company stock worth $4,130,905 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $148.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $105.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.16.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $139.19 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $47.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G 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 $178.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $131.43 and its 200 day moving average is $89.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio 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.