Parametrica Management Ltd Takes Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Parametrica Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,287 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000. Western Digital makes up 0.7% of Parametrica Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,857,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $595,369,000 after acquiring an additional 206,756 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,400,000 after acquiring an additional 143,074 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after acquiring an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 247.0% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,658 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of WDC stock traded down $0.67 on Wednesday, hitting $63.29. The stock had a trading volume of 766,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,090,811. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.62 and a beta of 1.40. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $45.23 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $66.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.97) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 188,561 shares of company stock worth $13,309,042 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.