Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Raises Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 238,429 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,757 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. owned 0.07% of Western Digital worth $14,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 2.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,133 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This trade represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.65.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $65.04 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.14. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $52.76 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a PE ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.97) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.