Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives $87.71 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $87.71.

Several analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.48, for a total value of $178,292.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 37,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,303.04. This represents a 7.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 188,561 shares of company stock worth $13,309,042. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aequim Alternative Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 142.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aequim Alternative Investments LP now owns 371,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,336,000 after acquiring an additional 217,800 shares during the period. Sender Co & Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,397,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,410 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,925,000 after acquiring an additional 5,986 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 62.8% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 27,282 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after acquiring an additional 10,524 shares during the period. Finally, Main Management ETF Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $848,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $62.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.94 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.32. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $45.23 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.56 EPS for the current 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.