Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Western Digital's stock rose by 7% after Wedbush upgraded their price target from $90 to $135, indicating a strong market response to the analyst's positive outlook.
• The consensus rating for Western Digital's stock is "Moderate Buy", with 1 strong buy, 17 buy ratings, and 5 hold ratings from analysts.
• In insider trading, insiders have sold a total of 49,730 shares valued at approximately $3.92 million in the last ninety days, reflecting significant activity among company executives.

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) shot up 7% during trading on Thursday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $135.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $127.64 and last traded at $128.90. 3,282,141 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 8,160,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $120.44.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $92.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $101.21.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 151,596 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. The trade was a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,730 shares of company stock valued at $3,921,594 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,736,003,000 after acquiring an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $593,045,000 after acquiring an additional 186,030 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $239,022,000 after buying an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Up 7.3%

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business's 50-day moving average is $97.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.48. The firm has a market cap of $44.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

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.

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