Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 146.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,188 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,896 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 175.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 338.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,915,000 after acquiring an additional 722,702 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $1,833,922.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock valued at $17,661,708. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.3%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $273.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.64. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $92.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

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.