Franklin Resources Inc. Has $1.24 Million Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 531 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $422,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Western Digital by 24.9% in the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 48,031 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,639,000 after buying an additional 9,566 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 48.3% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,291 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 75,513 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,722,000 after acquiring an additional 5,740 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WDC. BNP Paribas lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Benchmark downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This trade represents a 6.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.6 %

Western Digital stock opened at $60.70 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.71 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.90. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $48.96 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share 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.