Vontobel Holding Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 137,360 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,338,000 after acquiring an additional 5,159 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Western Digital by 89.2% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 4,187 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. now owns 21,423 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $71.50 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $64.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.41. The company has a market cap of $24.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $52.77 and a twelve month high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.42.

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.