Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Increased to $80.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of Western Digital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $73.72.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.5 %

Western Digital stock opened at $67.05 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.40 and a beta of 1.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $31.97 and a 1-year high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. Western Digital’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) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,050 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,893,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 79.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 614 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 37,156 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.