Mizuho Securities USA LLC Increases Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 54.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,765 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,592 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beta Wealth Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Barclays dropped their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.21.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $44.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.98. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $39.42 and a 12 month high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.