Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms “Overweight” Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price target points to a potential upside of 32.87% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $71.50 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.07. The firm has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.82 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $46.42 and a 1 year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. The trade was a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 185,963 shares of company stock valued at $13,154,039. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,184.2% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.