Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd

Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd reduced its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDCFree Report) by 47.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,431 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 88,191 shares during the period. Western Digital makes up approximately 1.7% of Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Melqart Asset Management UK Ltd’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $17,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $793,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Bank of America upped their target price on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays upped their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Get Our Latest Report on Western Digital

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $57.88 and a one year high of $729.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $462.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $316.21. The company has a market capitalization of $234.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Western Digital Profile

(Free Report)

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

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