Bank of America Raises Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $85.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $75.00 to $85.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WDC. Evercore ISI began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an outperform rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Western Digital from $52.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Western Digital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $73.17.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $66.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.52 billion, a PE ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $76.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $63.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. Western Digital’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.69) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,020,431,000 after buying an additional 215,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Western Digital by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,595,297 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $851,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,931,325 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in Western Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $292,628,000 after acquiring an additional 443,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 5,143,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $234,711,000 after acquiring an additional 351,916 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.