Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.26.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (up from $78.00) on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Elequin Capital LP bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 34.1% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 91.6% during the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $68.00 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $57.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.27. 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 has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $74.37. The stock has a market cap of $23.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 1.54.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. The firm’s revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in 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 typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.58%.

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.