Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on WDC. Mizuho cut their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.21.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $42.62 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $39.42 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $56.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. BNP Paribas increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 22.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.