Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $193.71 and last traded at $187.6270, with a volume of 113075 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho set a $180.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.65.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $63.13 billion, a PE ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $163.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.60.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,507 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,982,000 after buying an additional 1,009 shares during the period. Sherman Porfolios LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,475,000. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 93.8% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 29,265 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,514,000 after buying an additional 14,165 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 2,685.2% during the third quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 18,605 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 17,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $211,000. Hedge funds and other 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.