Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating)’s stock price dropped 4.1% on Monday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $45.00. The company traded as low as $33.97 and last traded at $34.03. Approximately 42,184 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 99% from the average daily volume of 4,177,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.50.
Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $50.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 23rd. BNP Paribas assumed 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. StockNews.com began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.81.
Insider Activity at Western Digital
In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.90, for a total value of $88,712.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,290,558.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Czech National Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $1,184,000. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Western Digital by 10.6% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 58,591 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after buying an additional 5,626 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 11.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 13,060 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 1,372 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 485,593 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $15,806,000 after acquiring an additional 47,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 400,784 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $13,045,000 after acquiring an additional 176,650 shares during the period. 84.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The stock has a market cap of $10.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.74 and its 200-day moving average is $46.57.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $0.02. Western Digital had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 5.25%. The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post -0.27 EPS for the current year.
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 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.