Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 462,850 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 28,281 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $55,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $593,045,000 after acquiring an additional 186,030 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. China Renaissance started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective on the stock. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $279.70 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $309.90. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $238.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.82. The company has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. This trade represents 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, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,606 shares of company stock worth $17,296,369. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.