Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 19,600 Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 19,600 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,026,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $216,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,585 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 634.4% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 93,926 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $4,919,000 after buying an additional 81,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $788,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $73.72.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $69.44. 8,595,812 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,011,973. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $32.01 and a 52 week high of $76.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.