abrdn plc Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 119,577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $8,205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 64,980 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew 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 buying an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $236,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 19.8% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,717 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 5.7% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $697,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was 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 directly owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,873,374.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related 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 owns 37,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,303.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,873,374.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 200,715 shares of company stock valued at $14,002,914. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective 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, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Summit Insights lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $65.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.75 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.53. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $41.78 and a twelve month high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS 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.