Intech Investment Management LLC Buys 10,077 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 104.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,708 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,077 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 186,278 shares of company stock valued at $13,173,985. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.2 %

WDC opened at $73.02 on Wednesday. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $46.28 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a PE ratio of 42.95 and a beta of 1.40.

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