Western Digital’s (WDC) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a research note released on Monday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.21.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.04 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.16. The company has a market cap of $24.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.44. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $926,879,000 after acquiring an additional 423,651 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $539,355,000 after purchasing an additional 76,781 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 24.6% in the 3rd 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 worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $224,497,000 after purchasing an additional 383,390 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $218,034,000 after purchasing an additional 651,847 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by 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.