Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.74.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas lowered their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction 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 $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,114 shares of company stock worth $2,185,491. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Western Digital by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $67.41 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $65.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.84. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.77 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 $23.30 billion, a PE ratio of 39.65 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.