Analysts Set Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Target Price at $82.09

Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nineteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.09.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. UBS Group upped their price target on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 26,853 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.48, for a total value of $1,973,158.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 144,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,626,898.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,579 shares of company stock valued at $2,238,595 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Western Digital by 9.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 12,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $289,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 59,096 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,701,000 after buying an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the third quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 63,319 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after buying an additional 528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 199.9% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 4,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.5 %

WDC opened at $80.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.13 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $73.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.67. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $35.62 and a 12 month high of $81.55.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital will post -1.68 earnings per share 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.