Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Sold by DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main

DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lessened its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 170,791 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 31,141 shares during the quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $10,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Western Digital by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 27,666 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,652 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,112 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Western Digital by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 74,957 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,470,000 after purchasing an additional 8,441 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,394 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 195,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,654,000 after buying an additional 3,325 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $44.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $81.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $40.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.58%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.