Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Acquires Shares of 5,104 Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,104 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. S.A. Mason LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,494 shares of company stock valued at $636,747 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $49.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $17.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.67.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WDC. Benchmark raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.15.

Western Digital Profile

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.