NEOS Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,727 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 29.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,479 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,727 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $50,191,000 after buying an additional 50,188 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $23,305,000 after buying an additional 15,189 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Western Digital by 53.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of WDC opened at $40.62 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $39.42 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $14.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50 day moving average is $55.69 and its 200 day moving average is $62.41.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WDC. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.21.

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.