Short Interest in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Increases By 22.2%

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,570,000 shares, an increase of 22.2% from the January 31st total of 24,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 6,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas boosted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its stake in Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $44.20 on Thursday. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $39.58 and a fifty-two week high of $61.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.01.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.05.

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.