Gotham Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 51.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 321,928 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,583 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $19,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $50,191,000 after buying an additional 50,188 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $23,305,000 after buying an additional 15,189 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after buying an additional 14,432 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Western Digital by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $44.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.12 and a 200 day moving average of $56.33. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $76.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Summit Insights raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.15.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.