Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 30,871 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 13% compared to the typical daily volume of 27,329 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America increased 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. StockNews.com downgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. 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 Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,020,431,000 after acquiring an additional 215,207 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 7.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its stake in 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 worth $292,628,000 after acquiring an additional 443,903 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,154,000 after buying an additional 92,009 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $71.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.01 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital has a one year low of $32.01 and a one year high of $76.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.96. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

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.