4,910 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Bought by Alpha Family Trust

Alpha Family Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 4,910 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,736,003,000 after buying an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.0% during 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. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $203,337,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $139,476,000 after purchasing an additional 52,140 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $220,680,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, 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 transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.8%

Western Digital stock opened at $155.59 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $178.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $139.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.39. The company has a market capitalization of $53.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.82.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.28%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.