1,603 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Acquired by WealthCare Asset Management LLC

WealthCare Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,603 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDC. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 143.0% during the 3rd quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 3,147 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the period. VUB Generali dochodkova spravcovska spolocnost a.s. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $384,000. RD Finance Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $4,729,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 10.9% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,677 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 27.0% in the third quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 235 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 over the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $356.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $429.95 and a 200 day moving average of $413.05. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $121.85 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The firm has a market cap of $133.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.33%.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: A Bank of America note said memory customers are locking in supply for multiple years, lifting the broader memory and storage group. Western Digital benefited alongside Micron and SanDisk as investors anticipated stronger pricing and demand. Bank of America memory-market article
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said AI-related storage demand could grow about 25% annually and expressed confidence that the company can expand margins despite data-center cost concerns. Western Digital CEO AI-demand article
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its quarterly dividend by 16.7% following strong fiscal first-quarter results, reinforcing the case for improving cash generation. Western Digital dividend increase article
• Positive Sentiment: Argus maintained a Buy rating despite lowering its price target to $500, while several bullish analyses cited strong earnings, robust cloud demand and favorable storage pricing. Argus Western Digital rating

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Mizuho set a $490.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $430.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.04.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.