Inceptionr LLC Lowers Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Inceptionr LLC cut its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,576 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 6,680 shares during the quarter. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $307,000. Atria Investments Inc bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $286,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $231,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $262.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $248.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.53. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $309.90. 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 cap of $88.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.75.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Western Digital

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.