Great Lakes Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 125,886 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,184 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empower Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $493,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $262,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,917,000 after purchasing an additional 27,849 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its position in Western Digital by 67.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 8.2% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 15,387 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,051,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.47.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $42.03 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.42 and a fifty-two week high of $61.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.06. The stock has a market cap of $14.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.