Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.75-2.05 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.93. The company issued revenue guidance of $4.20-4.40 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $4.33 billion.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WDC. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.95.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded down $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $66.32. 7,017,367 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,115,171. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $35.62 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.26 and a 200-day moving average of $69.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.52 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.17. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 3.75% and a negative return on equity of 2.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital will post 7.75 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 12,154 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.09, for a total transaction of $693,871.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,331,098.17. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 92,955 shares of company stock worth $6,327,560. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

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.