Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 28.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,258,193 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 881,078 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $154,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, 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 transaction of $178,292.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 37,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,303.04. The trade was a 7.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 188,520 shares of company stock valued at $13,306,224 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.8 %

Western Digital stock opened at $66.43 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.08. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $46.05 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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