Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Shares Climb 6.2% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Sandisk shares rose 6.2% on Monday, closing at $886.51 after reaching an intraday high of $904.00; trading volume was 7% below its daily average.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $2,056.23, with 22 analysts rating the stock a Buy.
• Sandisk beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $49.51 per share and revenue of $11.03 billion, up 23% year over year. The company also authorized up to $14 billion in share repurchases and announced an 8-for-1 stock split.

Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) was up 6.2% during trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $904.00 and last traded at $886.51. 13,758,856 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 14,814,034 shares. The stock had previously closed at $835.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SNDK shares. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $1,400.00 target price (up from $1,000.00) on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $2,400.00 price target on shares of Sandisk in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Sandisk from $1,875.00 to $2,050.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Sandisk from $2,300.00 to $3,000.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $2,056.23.

Sandisk Trading Up 6.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $126.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.06 and a beta of 5.66. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $1,504.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,264.98.

Sandisk's stock is scheduled to split on Friday, November 20th. The 8-1 split was announced on Thursday, October 29th. The newly minted shares will be distributed to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, November 19th.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The data storage provider reported $49.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $46.19 by $3.32. The company had revenue of $11.03 billion for the quarter. Sandisk had a net margin of 67.04% and a return on equity of 125.70%. Sandisk's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.22 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sandisk Corporation will post 226.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandisk announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $14 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bernard Shek sold 2,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,767.33, for a total transaction of $4,078,997.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 25,305 shares in the company, valued at $44,722,285.65. This represents a 8.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Luis Visoso sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,568.83, for a total value of $1,568,830.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 130,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $205,479,078.08. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 77,899 shares of company stock valued at $121,156,782 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sandisk

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Sandisk by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sandisk by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 226 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $514,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Insight Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sandisk by 0.4% in the second quarter. Insight Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,607 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,654,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Sandisk by 2.4% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 340 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $592,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in shares of Sandisk by 3.1% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 267 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the period.

Sandisk Company Profile

SanDisk Corporation offers flash storage solutions. The Company designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using flash memory, controller, firmware and software technologies. The Company operates through flash memory storage products segment. Its solutions include a range of solid state drives (SSD), embedded products, removable cards, universal serial bus (USB), drives, wireless media drives, digital media players, and wafers and components. It offers SSDs for client computing applications, which encompass desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and other computing devices.

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