Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Barclays from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 23.00% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas dropped their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Benchmark cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.65.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.04 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.31. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.76 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a PE ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.97) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. This 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 available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. The trade was a 6.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 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.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. 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 in the last quarter. Avala Global LP increased its position in Western Digital by 49.0% during the 3rd quarter. Avala Global LP now owns 1,147,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,376,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Western Digital by 19.7% in 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 last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake 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 valued at $18,917,000 after purchasing an additional 27,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 137.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after buying an additional 25,262 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.