Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Sells $14,212.45 in Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 245 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.01, for a total transaction of $14,212.45. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 39,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,297,428.04. The trade was a 0.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $59.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 1.49. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $80.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $47.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.54.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 77.2% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 3,338 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $7,641,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Bluefin Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $649,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,882.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 185,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,515,000 after purchasing an additional 176,514 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.79.

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.