Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd Purchases New Shares in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $352,572,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $94,181,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $62,612,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,494 shares of company stock valued at $636,747. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of WDC opened at $49.99 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.42. 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 fifty day moving average of $40.81 and a 200-day moving average of $55.52.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally 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 will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on WDC. Mizuho reduced their target price on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays set a $50.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Summit Insights raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.15.

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.