Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 7.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 44,874 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,701 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of several research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna increased their price target 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. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $71.50 on Thursday. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $46.42 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.06 and a beta of 1.40. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.07.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. Research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 185,963 shares of company stock worth $13,154,039 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.