Teza Capital Management LLC Has $1.11 Million Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Teza Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 55.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,604 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares during the quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 195,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,654,000 after purchasing an additional 3,325 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,570,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its position in Western Digital by 23.0% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 19,954 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after buying an additional 3,731 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,133 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Benchmark raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.15.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $49.99 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a PE ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,494 shares of company stock valued at $636,747 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.