Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WDC. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Argus increased their price target on Western Digital from $68.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $77.76.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $69.86 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $32.01 and a twelve month high of $76.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.26.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.57) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Western Digital news, 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 value of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,020,431,000 after acquiring an additional 215,207 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $292,628,000 after acquiring an additional 443,903 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $149,154,000 after acquiring an additional 92,009 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.