Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $40.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as low as $36.19 and last traded at $36.43, with a volume of 146713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.22.
Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, September 1st. Craig Hallum dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, August 15th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Western Digital from $68.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Finally, Exane BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, September 13th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.36.
Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital
In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.90, for a total value of $88,712.10. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 31,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,290,558.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 883.2% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,404,398 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $197,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,956,430 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $202,707,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 445.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,451,033 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $72,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,100 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 17.2% during the 1st quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 7,260,859 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $412,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063,000 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 15.6% in the first quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,552,489 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $374,981,000 after purchasing an additional 1,021,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.57% of the company’s stock.
Western Digital Trading Down 2.0 %
The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.51. The firm has a market cap of $11.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.84 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.27. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.