Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 147,136 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,966 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $8,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 278.9% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 413 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,184.2% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WDC. UBS Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.21.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.9 %

Western Digital stock opened at $43.66 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $57.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.11. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $39.42 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market cap of $15.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40 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 issued 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 return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share 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.