Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 44,903 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,391,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after purchasing an additional 186,030 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% in the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock worth $22,091,068. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $248.03 and a 200-day moving average of $174.53. The company has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $309.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

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.