California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 108,114 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 476,947 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 108,114 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $24,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 79.1% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $71.36 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $23.25 billion, a PE ratio of -14.36 and a beta of 1.56. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.01 and a fifty-two week high of $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.08 and a 200-day moving average of $55.09.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted 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. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.57) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital 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 owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital 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 sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities raised Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.25.

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.