Korea Investment CORP Sells 350,871 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Korea Investment CORP decreased its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 243,676 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 350,871 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $14,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 Western Digital by 4.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 53.3% during 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 in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.21.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.1 %

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

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

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.