Empower Advisory Group LLC Takes $493,000 Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Empower Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WDC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Western Digital by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Western Digital by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 10,344 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $63.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.19 and a beta of 1.40. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $45.23 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results 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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.97) earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.48, for a total transaction of $178,292.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 37,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,303.04. This represents a 7.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. The trade was a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,561 shares of company stock valued at $13,309,042. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Profile

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.