Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC Buys New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 89,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,685,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 175.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 338.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $59,915,000 after purchasing an additional 722,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $281.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $95.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.79. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $307.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $219.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $153.62. 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 (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total transaction of $1,833,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital 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.