Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $93.00. The stock had previously closed at $63.54, but opened at $61.92. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital shares last traded at $61.63, with a volume of 1,345,131 shares changing hands.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, November 29th. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.33.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $166,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,603 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 247.0% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,658 shares in the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 2,030,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $138,629,000 after purchasing an additional 871,500 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Western Digital by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 24.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $253,453,000 after buying an additional 732,344 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($1.97) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.