Western Digital’s (WDC) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Cantor Fitzgerald

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price suggests a potential upside of 31.38% from the company’s current price.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock traded up $2.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.31. 4,198,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,039,993. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.06. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $46.28 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $25.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.54 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares in the company, valued at $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,620 shares of company stock valued at $13,127,932 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. AGF Management Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,194,603 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings 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 period. Sachem Head Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 75.2% in the third quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 2,030,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,629,000 after purchasing an additional 871,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 24.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares in 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.