Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $93.00. The stock had previously closed at $63.54, but opened at $61.92. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital shares last traded at $61.63, with a volume of 1,345,131 shares.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total transaction of $139,390.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 21.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,896 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 121.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 541 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 72,028 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,458,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Western Digital by 39.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the period. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 89,457 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,778,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.50. The company has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.