Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 30.69% from the stock’s current price.

WDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Benchmark cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.65.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.04 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $52.76 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. 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.