Quest Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 253.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,610 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,610 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,019,957.96. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 188,144 shares of company stock worth $13,281,983. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $65.80 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.16. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $46.05 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $22.75 billion, a PE ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.40. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

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.