Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WDC. Argus raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $68.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James lowered shares of Western Digital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Western Digital from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $77.76.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of WDC opened at $70.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.43. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $32.01 and a 1-year high of $76.92. The stock has a market cap of $22.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.19 and a beta of 1.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.75%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.57) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $2,209,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 19.8% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,717 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $236,000. Fountainhead AM LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $239,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $270,000. Hedge funds and other 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.