Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Sold by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 53,464 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 5,632 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,595,297 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $851,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,931,325 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after acquiring an additional 443,903 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 5,143,795 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $234,711,000 after acquiring an additional 351,916 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,501,843 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $173,893,000 after acquiring an additional 80,373 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.5 %

WDC stock opened at $72.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.29. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.69) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $52.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.78.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.28% 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.