Western Digital Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 24,530 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 21% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,222 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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 owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $95,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 274,976 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,835,000 after buying an additional 6,148 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,270 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 47.6% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 9,631 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 3,104 shares during the period. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $267,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $67.43 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.07. 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 has a 12 month low of $52.77 and a 12 month high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.97) earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas lowered their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.65.

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.