ING Groep NV Trims Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

ING Groep NV reduced its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 39.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,954 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 19,716 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 53.3% during the fourth 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 during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 83.9% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares during the period. Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,352.8% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,413 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 8,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,580 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.42.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $68.71 on Monday. 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 cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 1.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.66. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $52.77 and a 1-year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.