Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives $80.21 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $80.21.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $44.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.19 and a 200 day moving average of $63.26. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $39.42 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60 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 announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position 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 valued at $144,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Western Digital by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas boosted its position in Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. 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.