Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded to “Buy” by Benchmark

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was upgraded by Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $85.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock. Benchmark’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.11% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on WDC. Raymond James downgraded Western Digital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ WDC opened at $71.36 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.03. The company has a market capitalization of $23.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $32.01 and a 12 month 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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 13.67% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, 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 other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 870,971 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in Western Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $292,628,000 after purchasing an additional 443,903 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 92,009 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.