Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Acquires 106,889 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 574,989 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,889 shares during the quarter. Western Digital accounts for 1.6% of Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.17% of Western Digital worth $69,033,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 7.1% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 57.7% during the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 309 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 84,277 shares of company stock worth $22,091,068 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $309.90. The company has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

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.