ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Takes $371,000 Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,088 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $371,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 86.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $179.74 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $188.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.45 billion, a PE ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.82.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the sale, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. China Renaissance began coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.65.

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.