Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $100.00 at Morgan Stanley

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Wedbush upped their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.09.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.45 on Friday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $35.62 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 3.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 12,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.09, for a total value of $693,871.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,331,098.17. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 92,955 shares of company stock worth $6,327,560 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $437,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 822,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,112,000 after buying an additional 64,980 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 14.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $388,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $239,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.