Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Purchases 981,527 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1,089.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 981,527 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.33% of Western Digital worth $73,126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,362 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 89,088 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $246,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $68.26 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $35.62 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.57) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 416 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.88, for a total transaction of $29,902.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,321 shares in the company, valued at $2,179,473.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 26,853 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.48, for a total value of $1,973,158.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 144,623 shares in the company, valued at $10,626,898.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 416 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.88, for a total transaction of $29,902.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,473.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,488 shares of company stock worth $2,020,143 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. UBS Group increased their price target on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.96.

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 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.