Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho raised their price target on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $70.51 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.19 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.86. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $32.01 and a 52-week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.57) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 37.3% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 843 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in Western Digital by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,050 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,893,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Western Digital by 79.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in Western Digital by 0.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 37,156 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.