Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective boosted by Bank of America from $62.00 to $71.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WDC. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. BNP Paribas restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 16th. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities reduced their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.37.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $57.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.01. The stock has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 1.49. Western Digital has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $81.55.

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

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.58%.

Western Digital declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. This trade represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,564 shares of company stock worth $663,018 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Western Digital

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.