Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $65.00 to $80.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 19.10% from the stock's current price.
A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, TD Securities cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.26.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on Western Digital
Western Digital Stock Up 1.0%
Shares of WDC stock traded up $0.64 on Thursday, hitting $67.17. The stock had a trading volume of 714,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,597,587. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.01 and a 200 day moving average of $53.26. The stock has a market cap of $23.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.31. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $75.57.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.
Western Digital declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital
In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,736,003,000 after acquiring an additional 478,728 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745,264 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $520,450,000 after acquiring an additional 823,656 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $352,572,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% during the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $203,337,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 23.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,592,516 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $273,852,000 after buying an additional 881,088 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About Western Digital
(
Get Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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