Bank of America Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Bank of America from $89.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 24.51% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, November 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.14.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.25. The stock had a trading volume of 2,025,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,525,277. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $51.75 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.49. The firm has a market cap of $22.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.82 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released 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 net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares during the last quarter. Avala Global LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 49.0% during the third quarter. Avala Global LP now owns 1,147,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,376,000 after purchasing an additional 377,500 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in Western Digital by 19.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 291,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,925,000 after buying an additional 47,965 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,917,000 after buying an additional 27,849 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 137.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 25,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company 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.