Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,346 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,285 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $609,708,000 after buying an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $292,628,000 after purchasing an additional 443,903 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $149,154,000 after purchasing an additional 92,009 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $138,173,000 after purchasing an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,657,334 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $121,254,000 after purchasing an additional 34,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $71.36. The company had a trading volume of 13,864,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,097,184. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of -9.86 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $32.01 and a one year high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.57) EPS. Western Digital's revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

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 transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 at this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly 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 at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm'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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Barclays increased their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.25.

Western Digital 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.