Ethic Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,301 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 372 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 11,013 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $50,191,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $23,305,000 after purchasing an additional 15,189 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Western Digital by 53.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,930,000 after purchasing an additional 34,579 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.15.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $44.10 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $15.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 7.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital 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.