Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Given New $78.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays set a $50.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Western Digital from $76.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.79.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $59.19 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.44. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $80.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,089 shares in the company, valued at $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,736,003,000 after purchasing an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 823,656 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $352,572,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 130.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $203,337,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,592,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $273,852,000 after acquiring an additional 881,088 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.