Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 3.4% After Insider Selling

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares fell 3.4% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $261.50 and last traded at $270.08. 7,347,094 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 10,520,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.70.

Specifically, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total value of $61,227.54. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 133,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,276,081.91. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total value of $86,763.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 134,759 shares in the company, valued at $37,961,610.30. This trade represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.83, for a total value of $36,897.90. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 135,067 shares in the company, valued at $38,336,066.61. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $241.89 and a 200-day moving average of $169.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $84.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.76.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share 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. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avion Wealth lifted its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.