Rosenblatt Securities Reaffirms Buy Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Rosenblatt Securities restated their buy rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a $115.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on WDC. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 6th. BNP Paribas lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.09.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.71 on Friday. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $38.43 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.01 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 7.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 12,154 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.09, for a total transaction of $693,871.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,331,098.17. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 169,948 shares of company stock valued at $11,910,450 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $437,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 822,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,112,000 after purchasing an additional 64,980 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Western Digital by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fountainhead AM LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $239,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.