Western Digital’s (WDC) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Benchmark

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $92.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

WDC has been the subject of several other reports. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $84.24.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.42 on Thursday. Western Digital has a one year low of $35.62 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.17. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 3.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $27,059.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,873,374.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 92,955 shares of company stock valued at $6,327,560. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,611 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $497,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 17,514 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after acquiring an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 91,553 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,795,000 after acquiring an additional 6,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 133,368 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,984,000 after acquiring an additional 7,770 shares in the last quarter. 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.