Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,175 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $1,242,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,619 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. Gerber LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $567,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Western Digital by 6.6% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 382,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,073,000 after acquiring an additional 23,781 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Western Digital by 1,089.7% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $73,126,000 after acquiring an additional 981,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,019,957.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,019,957.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $27,059.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,873,374.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,955 shares of company stock worth $1,053,560 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of WDC opened at $66.00 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.54. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $35.62 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market cap of $22.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.28 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 3.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 7.75 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.