Inspire Investing LLC Buys 8,314 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 186.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,785 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,314 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 86.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, CNB Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $37,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $179.74 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $188.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $157.19 and its 200 day moving average is $108.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a market cap of $61.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.82.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 7.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $105.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Western Digital from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.