Teza Capital Management LLC Purchases 6,673 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Teza Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 55.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,604 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,673 shares during the quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $352,572,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,181,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,612,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.15.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $49.99 on Monday. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.52.

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

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,494 shares of company stock valued at $636,747. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.