Cerity Partners LLC Sells 56,514 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 37.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,047 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 56,514 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 3.5% in the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 10.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $352,572,000. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,980,047 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $177,700,000 after buying an additional 586,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 5.3% during the 4th 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 period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $34.40 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The stock has a market cap of $11.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.19 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.44 and its 200 day moving average is $59.94.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 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%. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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.