468,100 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Purchased by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 468,100 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,954,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of Western Digital at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,303 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,336 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 948 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Western Digital by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 154,233 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,236,000 after buying an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Western Digital by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 455,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,424,000 after buying an additional 160,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth $62,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush boosted their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.16.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.5%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $157.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $53.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $178.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $135.63 and a 200-day moving average of $91.96.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.28%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 34,911 shares of company stock worth $4,588,187 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.