Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP Sells 116,300 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP reduced its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 35.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 209,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 116,300 shares during the period. Western Digital accounts for about 2.1% of Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $56,641,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.2% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Down 4.2%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $497.92 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $565.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $400.49. The stock has a market cap of $171.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $68.67 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This 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. Insiders have sold a total of 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

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.