Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 6,450 Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,450 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. State Street Corp raised its stake in Western Digital by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $926,879,000 after buying an additional 423,651 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $539,355,000 after purchasing an additional 76,781 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 24.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares during the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $224,497,000 after buying an additional 383,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Western Digital by 25.7% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,034,000 after acquiring an additional 651,847 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 note on Friday, September 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.95.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of WDC opened at $65.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $48.96 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.62 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.03.

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