StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a research report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.42.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $71.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.41. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $24.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.02 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDC. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 5.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during 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. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. BNP Paribas increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. 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.