Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Given New $400.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target on Western Digital to $400 (from $320) and kept an "overweight" rating, implying roughly a 10.6% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with 21 Buys and 3 Holds and an average target of $297.71, which is well below both the current share price and JPMorgan's new target.
• Western Digital recently beat quarterly estimates with $2.13 EPS vs. $1.93 expected and $3.02B in revenue (up 25.2% year-over-year), and analysts project about 4.89 EPS for the fiscal year.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $320.00 to $400.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the data storage provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.57% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $297.71.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.9%

Western Digital stock traded down $3.22 during trading on Thursday, hitting $361.78. The company had a trading volume of 4,368,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,560,823. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $35.51 and a 1-year high of $368.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $289.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.17. The stock has a market cap of $122.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the period. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 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 is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

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