Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.25.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James cut Western Digital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Benchmark raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8 %

WDC opened at $71.36 on Friday. Western Digital has a one year low of $32.01 and a one year high of $76.92. The company has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.01 and a beta of 1.57. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.96.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.57) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value 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 $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.