John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Has $5.43 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 30.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 103,750 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,100 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,173,000 after buying an additional 66,680 shares in the last quarter. Numerai GP LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $1,415,000. Sora Investors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 441.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sora Investors LLC now owns 325,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $14,830,000 after acquiring an additional 265,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $463,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded down $2.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,006,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,964,254. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $31.97 and a 12 month high of $76.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.52 billion, a PE ratio of -9.56 and a beta of 1.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.69) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.17.

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.