Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $430.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Argus lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Zacks Research cut shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $720.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.04.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $338.59 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $419.04 and a 200-day moving average of $417.37. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $132.43 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $126.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post 23.62 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at $41,392,640. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 28.6% in the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% during the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the second quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.