New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 14,764 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 225,787 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 14,764 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $11,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $609,708,000 after purchasing an additional 870,971 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 29.3% during the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,486,333 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $113,451,000 after purchasing an additional 563,232 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in Western Digital by 8.6% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 92.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 704,883 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,164,000 after acquiring an additional 337,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandler Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $13,680,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.51. 8,642,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,134,594. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $32.01 and a 52 week high of $76.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $65.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a PE ratio of -13.93 and a beta of 1.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.75%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.57) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.