Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Barclays from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 23.00% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased their price target on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.65.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.2 %

WDC opened at $65.04 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $52.76 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted 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 business had revenue of $4.10 billion during 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%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. The trade was a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 278.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 413 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,184.2% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.