Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Raises Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 96.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,570 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,234 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sather Financial Group Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $224,000. Aberdeen Group plc grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4.7% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 229,917 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,712,000 after purchasing an additional 10,280 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Western Digital by 981.9% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 21,821 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 19,804 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $919,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 73,177 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,988 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $123.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.84.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $113.13 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.12. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $137.40. 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 company has a market cap of $38.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.77.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total transaction of $654,333.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,148,052.40. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,730 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,594. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Company 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.