Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $495.00

Key Points

• Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital to $495 and kept a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 22.5% upside from the current share price.
• Western Digital recently beat quarterly expectations with $2.13 EPS (vs. $1.93 est.) and revenue of $3.02B (up 25.2% YoY); analysts' consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $314.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Bank of America to $495.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Bank of America's price target suggests a potential upside of 22.52% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Western Digital to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.13.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $404.00 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $304.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $226.59. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $39.90 and a 52-week high of $416.37. The firm has a market cap of $136.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.52, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for 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%.Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 8.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Trust Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Avion Wealth raised its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

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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