Beaconlight Capital LLC Cuts Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Beaconlight Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,278 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 73,378 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up about 1.8% of Beaconlight Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Beaconlight Capital LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 241.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 670 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth $409,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,401 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its stake in Western Digital by 16.2% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 154,365 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $10,534,000 after buying an additional 21,566 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WDC. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $72.20. 185,073 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,043,525. The company has a market capitalization of $24.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $46.42 and a 52-week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 32,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,019,957.96. This represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 186,278 shares of company stock worth $13,173,985. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.