Praxis Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,230 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rheos Capital Works Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,518,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,151,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Western Digital by 866.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,845 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $485,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $356,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. This represents a 9.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 49,730 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,594. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.65.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $126.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $99.35 and a 200 day moving average of $69.85. The firm has a market cap of $43.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $137.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

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.