Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Cut to $80.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price reduced by Bank of America from $89.00 to $80.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 24.51% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on WDC. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. BNP Paribas decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.14.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC traded down $0.38 during trading on Thursday, reaching $64.25. 2,025,471 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,525,277. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $51.75 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.82 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.97) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its position in Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,133 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.