Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Acquired by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,060 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,372 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $425,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Clear Street Markets LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 411.7% in the second quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 655 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 368.3% in the second quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 679 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 299.4% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.47% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $37.32 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.09. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $29.73 and a 1-year high of $66.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $11.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 1.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 27th. The data storage provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.10). Western Digital had a net margin of 5.25% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post -1.39 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 25th. Craig Hallum cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 4th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $60.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.14.

Western Digital Profile

(Get Rating)

Western Digital Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of data storage devices and solutions. It operates through the Flash and Hard Disk Drive segments. The Flash segment represents flash-based data storage devices. The Hard Disk Drive segment provides hard disk storage solutions.