Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 3.4% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were down 3.4% on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $261.50 and last traded at $270.08. Approximately 7,347,094 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 30% from the average daily volume of 10,520,979 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.70.

Specifically, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.11, for a total value of $61,227.54. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 133,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,276,081.91. This represents a 0.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total value of $86,763.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 134,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,961,610.30. This represents a 0.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.83, for a total value of $36,897.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 135,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,336,066.61. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $238.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.82. The stock has a market cap of $91.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

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.