abrdn plc Raises Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

abrdn plc increased its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 70.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 134,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,399 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 7.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 29.3% in the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,486,333 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,451,000 after acquiring an additional 563,232 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after buying an additional 443,903 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 92.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 704,883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,164,000 after buying an additional 337,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sandler Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $13,680,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $71.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.96. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $32.01 and a 52 week high of $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.67%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.57) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

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.