Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 7,223 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 177,052 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,223 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $21,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of WDC opened at $286.21 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $257.20 and its 200 day moving average is $181.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $309.90. The company has a market capitalization of $97.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.75.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, China Renaissance began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital 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.