Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 3.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) rose 3.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $307.50 and last traded at $284.10. Approximately 13,524,121 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 10,748,240 shares. The stock had previously closed at $273.74.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $96.32 billion, a PE ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $212.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.64.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $307,000. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 229,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $14,712,000 after purchasing an additional 10,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 96.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 53,570 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,428,000 after buying an additional 26,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% 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.