Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Increased to $86.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price upped by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $83.00 to $86.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.52% from the stock’s current price.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Western Digital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.25.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.8 %

Western Digital stock opened at $71.36 on Friday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $32.01 and a twelve month high of $76.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.03. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.57) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 103,750 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 24,100 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $138,173,000 after purchasing an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Numerai GP LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 81,346 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 15,285 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.