Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $63.79.

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho cut their target price on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Western Digital from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Loop Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $62.55 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.14. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $80.38. The firm has a market cap of $21.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the business'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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 40,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in 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% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 107.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $136,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $94,181,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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