Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Acquired by CIBC Asset Management Inc

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 8.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 47,533 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,615 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.48, for a total transaction of $178,292.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 37,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,303.04. This represents a 7.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 188,561 shares of company stock valued at $13,309,042 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ WDC opened at $64.58 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.26. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $46.05 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.99 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Western Digital 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.