TTP Investments Inc. Acquires New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

TTP Investments Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 32,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,266,000. Western Digital accounts for approximately 1.2% of TTP Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 86.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, CNB Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $37,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $181.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $188.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $152.47 and a 200-day moving average of $106.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.82.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.28%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Benchmark increased their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $148.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Bank of America increased 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.65.

Western Digital Profile

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.