Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Bought by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 15.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,800 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $11,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $641,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $636,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,594,000 after purchasing an additional 7,913 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in Western Digital by 35.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,123,000 after purchasing an additional 61,166 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.9%

WDC opened at $279.70 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $238.58 and a 200-day moving average of $166.82.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm 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 firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total value of $61,227.54. Following the transaction, the insider owned 133,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,276,081.91. This trade represents a 0.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,606 shares of company stock valued at $17,296,369. Insiders own 0.18% 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.