Portolan Capital Management LLC Has $7.71 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Portolan Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 129,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 5,982 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,707,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,149 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,745,264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $520,450,000 after purchasing an additional 823,656 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $352,572,000. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,980,047 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $177,700,000 after buying an additional 586,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,377,361 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $141,762,000 after buying an additional 119,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity 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 transaction of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, 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 can be accessed through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $34.40 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.87. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $11.97 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 1.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

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.