Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 6.4% – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded down 6.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $172.50 and last traded at $175.2570. 1,927,400 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 8,275,955 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WDC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Western Digital from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.70.

Western Digital Stock Down 5.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $60.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $146.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21.

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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is currently 7.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $220,680,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in Western Digital by 130.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.