Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Sells $5,443,500.00 in Stock

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

David Goeckeler also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 26th, David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $67.02 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $65.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.59. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $38.43 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.42 and a beta of 1.39. 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 posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.97) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 7.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 28,925.8% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after buying an additional 2,194,603 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $109,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,658 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,089.7% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $73,126,000 after acquiring an additional 981,527 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Western Digital by 304.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 709,386 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $53,750,000 after buying an additional 534,168 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.09.

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.