Forsta AP Fonden Grows Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 69,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,460,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP now owns 897,574 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,289,000 after purchasing an additional 217,574 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Greenleaf Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $35,406,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 60,186 shares of company stock worth $6,213,015 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $157.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $178.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $125.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.28%.

Western Digital 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.