Benchmark Trims Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Target Price to $85.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) had its target price dropped by Benchmark from $92.00 to $85.00 in a research report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. Benchmark’s price target suggests a potential upside of 59.68% from the stock’s previous close.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 19th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, January 28th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.86.

Shares of WDC stock traded up $0.62 on Friday, reaching $53.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 69,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,022,233. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $43.85 and a 12-month high of $78.19. The company has a market capitalization of $16.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 1.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.97.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 28th. The data storage provider reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.16. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.03% and a net margin of 10.52%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 7.13 EPS for the current year.

In other news, insider Srinivasan Sivaram sold 11,380 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.37, for a total transaction of $607,350.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paula A. Price sold 4,150 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.82, for a total transaction of $215,053.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $368,123,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $202,707,000. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 6,531,357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $425,910,000 after buying an additional 1,213,542 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 631.2% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,341,800 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $87,438,000 after buying an additional 1,158,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,302,622 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $525,040,000 after buying an additional 994,582 shares in the last quarter. 79.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital (Get Rating)

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 computing devices, such as desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), smart video systems, gaming consoles, and set top boxes; 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; and flash-based memory wafers.

Recommended Stories