Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Bought by Avior Wealth Management LLC

Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 16.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,985 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 982 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 30,551 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,179 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 3.9% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 2,393,123 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $163,426,000 after acquiring an additional 89,959 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,002,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 253.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,610 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 7,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 969,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $66,173,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 188,144 shares of company stock valued at $13,281,983 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $65.80 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $46.05 and a one year high of $81.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.45 and its 200-day moving average is $69.16. 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 market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital 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.