The Goldman Sachs Group Raises Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $76.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $58.00 to $76.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Digital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $69.78.

Western Digital Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.11 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.42. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $31.97 and a 52 week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.69) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value 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. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,173,000 after purchasing an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Numerai GP LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,415,000. Sora Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 441.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sora Investors LLC now owns 325,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,830,000 after purchasing an additional 265,000 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $463,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.