Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Given “Overweight” Rating at Cantor Fitzgerald

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 47.25% from the company’s previous close.

WDC has been the topic of several other reports. Benchmark cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.65.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $64.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.47. The stock has a market cap of $22.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 1.43. 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 1-year low of $52.76 and a 1-year high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This trade represents a 6.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,133 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.