BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Has $3.72 Million Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 54,470 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,994 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ WDC opened at $71.69 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.04. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $46.47 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.17 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.71.

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.