Swiss National Bank Purchases 7,500 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Swiss National Bank increased its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 976,507 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.28% of Western Digital worth $58,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $926,879,000 after purchasing an additional 423,651 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $539,355,000 after buying an additional 76,781 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $253,453,000 after buying an additional 732,344 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 13.2% during the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $224,497,000 after buying an additional 383,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 25.7% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,034,000 after acquiring an additional 651,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Benchmark lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 5.9 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $44.53 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $15.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $39.42 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.79.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 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.