Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 5.1% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares were up 5.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $289.87 and last traded at $286.21. Approximately 8,532,267 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average daily volume of 10,020,561 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.1%

The stock has a market cap of $97.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $255.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $179.83.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. 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 purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.