Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 50,188 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,188 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $50,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WDC shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $82.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 1,347 shares of company stock worth $93,027 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $69.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.01 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.16. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $52.77 and a 1 year high of $81.55. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (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%. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal 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.