APG Asset Management N.V. Acquires 187,050 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

APG Asset Management N.V. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1,015.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,479 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 187,050 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $11,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745,264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $520,450,000 after buying an additional 823,656 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $352,572,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,980,047 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $177,700,000 after acquiring an additional 586,924 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,377,361 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $141,762,000 after acquiring an additional 119,168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $34.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.13 billion, a PE ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.16.

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 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.68.

Western Digital 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.