Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives $77.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.16.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. BNP Paribas lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $35.82 on Friday. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53 and a beta of 1.39.

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