Mizuho Has Lowered Expectations for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target dropped by Mizuho from $90.00 to $82.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price suggests a potential upside of 27.99% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WDC. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.95.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $64.07 on Friday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $48.96 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.69 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.19 and a 200-day moving average of $67.20.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.97) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.