Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $98.10 Million Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 48.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 817,063 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 265,654 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $98,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $203,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Western Digital by 8.1% during the third 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 during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $349,000. Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $382,000. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $490,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 8.0%

Western Digital stock opened at $270.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $285.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $195.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.03. The company has a market capitalization of $92.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total value of $102,363.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 143,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,819,822. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 transaction of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,816 shares of company stock worth $1,102,348. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $165.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.29.

About Western Digital

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.