Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDCFree Report) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 12,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,067,000. Western Digital comprises 1.0% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $455.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $360.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.26. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $49.00 and a fifty-two week high of $525.15. The firm has a market cap of $157.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.99%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Get Our Latest Report on WDC

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Profile

(Free Report)

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

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