Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $1.55 Million Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,748 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,858 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,603 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,658 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,089.7% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $73,126,000 after purchasing an additional 981,527 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after buying an additional 810,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 304.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 709,386 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $53,750,000 after buying an additional 534,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.48, for a total value of $178,292.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 37,448 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,303.04. This represents a 7.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,561 shares of company stock worth $13,309,042 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $64.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.26. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $46.05 and a one year high of $81.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.99 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.