Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 47,961 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 26.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,833 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,961 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $14,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,736,003,000 after purchasing an additional 478,728 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 186,030 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Western Digital by 130.0% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $139,476,000 after acquiring an additional 52,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 107.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,481 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $157.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $53.93 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $134.58 and its 200 day moving average is $91.50. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $178.45.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $170.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 34,911 shares of company stock worth $4,588,187. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Western Digital

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.