Avestar Capital LLC Invests $510,000 in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 4,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 175.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 338.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,915,000 after acquiring an additional 722,702 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $285.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $96.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.80. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $309.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $227.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $158.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company 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.