Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target reduced by Bank of America from $89.00 to $80.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.15.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $64.25 on Thursday. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $51.75 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a PE ratio of 37.79 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $95,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 274,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,835,000 after purchasing an additional 6,148 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $214,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 5.2% in 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 buying an additional 143,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,197,000. 92.51% of the stock is 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.