Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Citigroup from $87.00 to $85.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 17.50% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WDC. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $72.34 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.55 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $46.47 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.03.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,107 shares of company stock valued at $13,042,381 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.