MBB Public Markets I LLC Sells 3,361 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

MBB Public Markets I LLC reduced its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,323 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,361 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up about 0.0% of MBB Public Markets I LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. MBB Public Markets I LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $307,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 294.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,770 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 2,815 shares during the period. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $308,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $286.21 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $97.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $257.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $181.26. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $309.90.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

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.