Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $415.00 at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital to $415 from $375 and kept a "buy" rating, implying about a 12.09% upside from the prior close.
• Western Digital beat quarterly expectations with EPS $2.13 vs. $1.93 and revenue of $3.02 billion (up 25.2% year‑over‑year), showing strong margins (ROE 41.53%, net margin 35.52%).
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive—21 analysts rate the stock a Buy and 3 a Hold, with a consensus target of $304.29, well below Bank of America's new target.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by analysts at Bank of America from $375.00 to $415.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Bank of America's target price indicates a potential upside of 12.09% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Western Digital to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $340.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $304.29.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $370.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $214.20. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $35.51 and a 12 month high of $368.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $125.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.28, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released 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 analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total value of $2,174,815.76. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 99,276 shares in the company, valued at $25,347,148.32. This trade represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,068 shares during the period. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. increased its position 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 buying an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

About Western Digital

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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