TD Cowen Issues Positive Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Key Points

• TD Cowen has raised Western Digital's price target significantly from $58.00 to $90.00, indicating a potential upside of 26% from its current price.
• Western Digital reported a strong quarterly performance with $1.66 earnings per share, surpassing analyst estimates and showcasing a 30% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company has initiated a $2.00 billion share buyback plan, reflecting management's belief that its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) had its price objective lifted by TD Cowen from $58.00 to $90.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider's stock.

WDC has been the subject of several other reports. TD Securities lowered their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Western Digital from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $76.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.74.

Western Digital Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of WDC traded down $2.14 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $76.55. The stock had a trading volume of 8,789,013 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,140,905. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 1.58. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $62.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.90. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $78.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 7.77%.

Western Digital announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,353 shares of company stock worth $657,454. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 107.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,897,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,612,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

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.