Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Makes New Investment in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 27,148 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,422,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.0% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $292,628,000 after purchasing an additional 443,903 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,154,000 after purchasing an additional 92,009 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,173,000 after buying an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,657,334 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $121,254,000 after buying an additional 34,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target 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. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $71.36 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $32.01 and a one year high of $76.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 13.67%. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.57) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 EPS for the current 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.