Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,570,000 shares, a growth of 22.2% from the January 31st total of 24,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,480,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Western Digital by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $50,191,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $23,305,000 after acquiring an additional 15,189 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in Western Digital by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.05.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC traded down $1.35 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $43.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,813,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,091,539. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $62.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.01. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $39.58 and a fifty-two week high of $61.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 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 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.