Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $87.71.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 188,561 shares of company stock worth $13,309,042. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,857,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $595,369,000 after acquiring an additional 206,756 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 5.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $218,400,000 after purchasing an additional 143,074 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 3.9% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,393,123 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $163,426,000 after purchasing an additional 89,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after buying an additional 2,194,603 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 5.1 %

WDC stock opened at $63.96 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.62 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.46. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $44.13 and a 1-year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.97) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Western Digital will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

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.