Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sachem Head Capital Management LP raised its holdings in 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 worth $138,629,000 after purchasing an additional 871,500 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in Western Digital by 25.7% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,034,000 after purchasing an additional 651,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Western Digital by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $926,879,000 after purchasing an additional 423,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 13.2% during the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $224,497,000 after purchasing an additional 383,390 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Benchmark cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut their price target on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.42.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $68.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.27. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $52.77 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $23.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 1.44.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 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.