Key Points
- Cynthia Tregillis sold 214 shares on Feb. 26 at an average price of $286.11 for a total of $61,227.54, trimming her stake by 0.16% to 133,781 shares valued at about $38.28 million.
- Western Digital beat estimates on Jan. 29 with EPS of $2.13 versus $1.93 expected and revenue of $3.02 billion (up 25.2% YoY); the company has a market cap of roughly $94.8 billion and a 52‑week high of $309.90.
- The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.125 ($0.50 annualized, ~0.2% yield), and analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $265.58 and several forecasts rising to $325.
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 214 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total transaction of $61,227.54. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 133,781 shares of the company's stock, valued at $38,276,081.91. The trade was a 0.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.
Western Digital Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $279.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.80. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $238.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.56.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given 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 is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Benchmark raised their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $265.58.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $641,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth $636,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,594,000 after buying an additional 7,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 35.3% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,245 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,123,000 after buying an additional 61,166 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.
About Western Digital
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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