Huntington National Bank Acquires 465 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,990 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,736,003,000 after buying an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in Western Digital by 130.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.5% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $139,476,000 after acquiring an additional 52,140 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,742,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 216,387 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $162.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $118.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $167.50.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total value of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 69,730 shares of company stock valued at $6,935,394 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on Western Digital from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $155.47.

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.