Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Raises Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,569 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Western Digital by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 543,701 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,835,000 after buying an additional 67,049 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 156,763 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $9,348,000 after acquiring an additional 6,129 shares in the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 156,247 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $9,317,000 after acquiring an additional 27,017 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,791,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $40.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.41. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $39.42 and a one year high of $81.55. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Bank of America dropped their price target on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.21.

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.