Rosenblatt Securities Reiterates Buy Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Rosenblatt Securities in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $115.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price target points to a potential upside of 65.59% from the company’s previous close.

WDC has been the topic of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Summit Insights lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.09.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $69.45 on Friday. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $35.62 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a PE ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.68.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total value of $27,059.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,870 shares in the company, valued at $1,873,374.30. 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 this link. In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $27,059.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,873,374.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 92,955 shares of company stock worth $6,327,560. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in Western Digital by 15.6% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $116,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Western Digital by 10.7% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 2.3% in the second quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 10,344 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% 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.