Analysts Set Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Target Price at $77.25

Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.25.

Several research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter worth $31,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 614 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 79.1% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.36. 13,869,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,070,411. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $32.01 and a 52-week high of $76.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.03.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.67% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.57) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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.