Morgan Stanley Cuts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $93.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $93.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 55.28% from the company’s current price.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. Benchmark lowered Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective 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, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.33.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded down $3.65 on Thursday, hitting $59.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,751,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,007,851. The company has a market capitalization of $20.70 billion, a PE ratio of 35.23 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.56. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $48.96 and a 1 year high of $81.55.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 2,184.2% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.