Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 4.3% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded up 4.3% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $279.79 and last traded at $273.74. 9,320,306 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 10,694,833 shares. The stock had previously closed at $262.56.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.3%

The company has a market capitalization of $92.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 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’s 50-day moving average is $209.85 and its 200 day moving average is $147.76.

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 firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $307,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 73,177 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,683,000 after buying an additional 2,988 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 10,280 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.