Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report released on Thursday morning,RTT News reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on WDC. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.68.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.7 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.78 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.70 and a 200 day moving average of $65.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $52.77 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 16.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $732,000. Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,689 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 628,672 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,488,000 after purchasing an additional 8,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 181,411 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,818,000 after purchasing an additional 6,331 shares in the last quarter. 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.