Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,758 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 366 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.48, for a total transaction of $178,292.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 37,448 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,303.04. This represents a 7.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,144 shares of company stock valued at $13,281,983 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $63.84 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 firm has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55 and a beta of 1.40. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $46.05 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.18.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BNP Paribas reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

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.