Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 100,826 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 791,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 100,826 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $54,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $27,059.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,873,374.30. This trade represents a 1.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 188,561 shares of company stock valued at $13,309,042. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $62.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.30 and a 200-day moving average of $69.32. The firm has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a PE ratio of 36.94 and a beta of 1.40. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $45.23 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. BNP Paribas cut their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.