Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report issued on Thursday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WDC. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.68.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $65.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $22.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.43. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $52.77 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company’s fifty day moving average is $65.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.62.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 16.13% and a net margin of 9.95%. Analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 5.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 5.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.