Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 47.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,901 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,973 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. BNP Paribas lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Summit Insights raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays set a $50.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.15.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $46.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.03. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The firm had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.58%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.