Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) is Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.’s Largest Position

Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 383,390 shares during the period. Western Digital makes up 6.4% of Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. owned about 0.95% of Western Digital worth $224,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2,184.2% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Barclays lifted their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen dropped 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. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $71.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.17 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.04. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $46.47 and a 52 week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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.