Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.21.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Benchmark cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $352,572,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,181,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,612,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of WDC opened at $44.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $57.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.98. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $39.42 and a 52 week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted 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, analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

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.