Western Digital’s (WDC) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $70.00 target price on the data storage provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $54.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 39.50% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on WDC. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $72.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.95.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $50.18 on Friday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. The business’s revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,494 shares of company stock worth $636,747 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas raised its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beta Wealth Group Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.