Citigroup Cuts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $85.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price cut by Citigroup from $87.00 to $85.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $72.11 on Tuesday. Western Digital has a one year low of $46.75 and a one year high of $81.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $24.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.42 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The company 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 business’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.97) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,401 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 25.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 997 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in Western Digital by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Western Digital by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $710,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.