Insider Selling: Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Sells 658 Shares of Stock

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.2 %

NASDAQ WDC traded up $3.59 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $73.02. 10,709,675 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,069,648. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $46.28 and a 12-month high of $81.55. 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 cap of $25.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.06.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued 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 company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,619 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after buying an additional 11,860 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,917,000 after buying an additional 27,849 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 137.9% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 25,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $13,260,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Summit Insights cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped 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 note on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

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.