Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 23.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,346 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,285 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after purchasing an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 29.3% during the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 2,486,333 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $113,451,000 after purchasing an additional 563,232 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after purchasing an additional 443,903 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 92.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 704,883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,164,000 after purchasing an additional 337,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sandler Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $13,680,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $69.44 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.73 and a 200 day moving average of $54.78. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $32.01 and a 1 year high of $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.57) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Evercore ISI began coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.72.

Western Digital 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.