Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $325.00 at Citigroup

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective increased by Citigroup to $325.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on WDC. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Western Digital to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $253.29.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $270.26 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $195.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.03. The company has a market cap of $92.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.78. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $285.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the sale, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 6,816 shares of company stock worth $1,102,348 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avion Wealth boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.