Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Bought by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank grew its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,957 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,441 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its stake in Western Digital by 124.2% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after acquiring an additional 11,860 shares during the period. Avala Global LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 49.0% during the third quarter. Avala Global LP now owns 1,147,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,376,000 after acquiring an additional 377,500 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Western Digital by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 291,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $19,925,000 after purchasing an additional 47,965 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,917,000 after purchasing an additional 27,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 137.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after purchasing an additional 25,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Barclays boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, 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 have sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.0 %

Western Digital stock opened at $64.63 on Thursday. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $50.88 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 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.