Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

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

WDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna lowered 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.42.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $71.29 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.80 billion, a PE ratio of 16.97 and a beta of 1.44. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $52.77 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $352,572,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $94,181,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,531,876,000 after buying an additional 1,439,149 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $62,612,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.