Barclays Boosts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $90.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Barclays from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 29.59% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Six equities research 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.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.09.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.7 %

WDC opened at $69.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.32. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $35.62 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $27,059.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,870 shares in the company, valued at $1,873,374.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.89, for a total transaction of $27,059.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,873,374.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 92,955 shares of company stock valued at $6,327,560. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194,603 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,089.7% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $73,126,000 after buying an additional 981,527 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Western Digital by 39.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after acquiring an additional 810,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 304.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 709,386 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $53,750,000 after acquiring an additional 534,168 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.