Carnegie Investment Counsel Makes New $358,000 Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,590 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP raised its position in Western Digital by 3.4% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 5,895 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.2% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 34.1% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.7% during the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $92.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.84.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the sale, the insider owned 151,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total transaction of $654,333.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares in the company, valued at $45,148,052.40. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,730 shares of company stock worth $3,921,594 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $129.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $44.37 billion, a PE ratio of 25.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $104.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $73.30. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $137.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

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.