RNC Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

RNC Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,554 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,802 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $138,173,000 after acquiring an additional 66,680 shares in the last quarter. Numerai GP LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,415,000. Sora Investors LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 441.7% during the third quarter. Sora Investors LLC now owns 325,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,830,000 after buying an additional 265,000 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $463,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $67.64 on Thursday. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $69.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.69) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post -2.31 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.00.

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.