Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 6.9% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Shares of Western Digital jumped 6.9% to about $262 following a string of analyst upgrades and higher price targets (e.g., Barclays $325, Mizuho $340, Wedbush $325) and an average target near $265.58 with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Western Digital beat quarterly expectations with $2.13 EPS vs. $1.93 est. and revenue of $3.02B (up 25.2% YoY), backed by strong profitability metrics (ROE ~41.5%, net margin ~35.5%).

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) traded up 6.9% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $262.16 and last traded at $262.06. 9,322,010 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 10,240,764 shares. The stock had previously closed at $245.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Stock Up 6.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm's 50-day moving average is $246.38 and its 200 day moving average is $173.21.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock worth $22,091,068. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by 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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