Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 1,439,149 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,439,149 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 12.21% of Western Digital worth $2,531,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $7,366,000. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,507,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 32,765 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 11,592 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 158.9% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 34,451 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,054,000 after purchasing an additional 21,143 shares during the period. Finally, BluePointe Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC now owns 65,312 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,895,000 after purchasing an additional 1,967 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $43.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $39.42 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $57.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.86.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 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.