Barclays Boosts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $80.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price increased by Barclays from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an outperform rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $73.72.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $69.55 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $76.92. The company has a market cap of $22.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.75 and a beta of 1.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.46 and its 200 day moving average is $54.68.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.69) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,020,431,000 after buying an additional 215,207 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after buying an additional 870,971 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after buying an additional 443,903 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,154,000 after buying an additional 92,009 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.