Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating restated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 31.38% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.1 %

NASDAQ WDC traded up $2.88 on Tuesday, hitting $72.31. 4,198,216 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,039,993. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.06. The company has a market capitalization of $25.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.54 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $46.28 and a 52-week high of $81.55.

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

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,620 shares of company stock valued at $13,127,932 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,184.2% during the 3rd 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. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.