The Goldman Sachs Group Trims Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Target Price to $72.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target cut by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $79.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.34% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.95.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $66.46. 4,054,173 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,100,786. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $35.62 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a PE ratio of -36.52 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 2.63% and a negative net margin of 3.75%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 12,154 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.09, for a total transaction of $693,871.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,413 shares in the company, valued at $7,331,098.17. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 92,955 shares of company stock worth $6,327,560. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,857,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $595,369,000 after acquiring an additional 206,756 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,400,000 after purchasing an additional 143,074 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after buying an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $166,860,000 after buying an additional 2,194,603 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after buying an additional 1,029,658 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.