Wedbush Reiterates Outperform Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by Wedbush in a research report issued on Thursday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $95.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Wedbush’s target price points to a potential upside of 47.85% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WDC. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.11.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Western Digital stock traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,383,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,000,446. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.62. The company has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.14 and a beta of 1.43. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.77 and a one year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 5.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.