Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 63,123 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,369,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 48.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 817,063 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $98,098,000 after purchasing an additional 265,654 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $203,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $349,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $382,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 6,816 shares of company stock worth $1,102,348. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 8.0%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $270.26 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $285.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $195.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WDC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. China Renaissance initiated coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Western Digital from $165.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.29.

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.