Wedbush Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Wedbush in a report issued on Friday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 30.15% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on WDC. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BNP Paribas reduced their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $72.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.23 billion, a PE ratio of 42.94 and a beta of 1.40. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $46.47 and a 52-week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.10 and a 200-day moving average of $69.12.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 185,963 shares of company stock valued at $13,154,039 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $166,860,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,603 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,658 shares in the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 75.2% during the third quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 2,030,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,629,000 after purchasing an additional 871,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 24.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.