The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $70.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective reduced by The Goldman Sachs Group from $81.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a neutral rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on WDC. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Benchmark cut shares of 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, BNP Paribas dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.86.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $62.82 on Friday. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $49.68 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $65.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $21.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company’s revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.97) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 22.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.4% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.