Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $43.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as low as $32.72 and last traded at $32.98, with a volume of 119327 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $33.84.
WDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, August 8th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Western Digital from $45.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 16th. Craig Hallum decreased their target price on Western Digital to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 15th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Western Digital from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Western Digital from $71.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.32.
Insider Transactions at Western Digital
In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.90, for a total value of $88,712.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,290,558.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. American International Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 112,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,369,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its holdings in Western Digital by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 34,814 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Western Digital by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 28,424 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,854,000 after purchasing an additional 7,077 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $243,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management increased its holdings in Western Digital by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 50,210 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,075,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.57% of the company’s stock.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.12 and a beta of 1.51.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.02. Western Digital had a net margin of 7.98% and a return on equity of 19.15%. The business had revenue of $4.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.57 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.96 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.
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 computing devices, such as desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), smart video systems, gaming consoles, and set top boxes; 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; and flash-based memory wafers.