Western Digital’s (WDC) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Wedbush currently has a $85.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday. Susquehanna raised their price target on Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Western Digital from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ WDC opened at $69.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.26. The company has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.06 and a beta of 1.56. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $32.01 and a 52 week high of $76.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.57) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,020,431,000 after buying an additional 215,207 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after purchasing an additional 870,971 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in Western Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after purchasing an additional 443,903 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Western Digital by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,154,000 after purchasing an additional 92,009 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.