Argus Boosts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $88.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price upped by investment analysts at Argus from $68.00 to $88.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Argus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 25.70% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on WDC. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded down $1.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $70.01. The company had a trading volume of 1,525,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,020,574. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $32.01 and a twelve month high of $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.81 billion, a PE ratio of -14.09 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.08 and its 200-day moving average is $55.09.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.75%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.57) earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 37.3% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 843 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Western Digital by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,050 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,893,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Western Digital by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Western Digital by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 37,156 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.