Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $78.00 to $85.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $67.35 and last traded at $66.93, with a volume of 5099556 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $66.14.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WDC. UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Summit Insights raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BNP Paribas restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 16th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $58.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays set a $50.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 40,089 shares in the company, valued at $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 52.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,838 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 9,974 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Western Digital by 5.1% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 144,307 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,834,000 after acquiring an additional 6,947 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Western Digital by 6.8% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 89,244 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,608,000 after acquiring an additional 5,711 shares during the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 156,247 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $9,317,000 after acquiring an additional 27,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $5,711,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.2%

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $55.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.58%.

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

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.