Polymer Capital Management HK LTD Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Polymer Capital Management HK LTD purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 24,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,817,000. Western Digital comprises 0.8% of Polymer Capital Management HK LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.57 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $552.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $434.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.48%.

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.