Bank of America Cuts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $80.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target lowered by Bank of America from $89.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.65.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $65.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.31. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $52.76 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43. 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 issued 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.97) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its position in Western Digital by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares in the last quarter. Avala Global LP grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 49.0% during the third quarter. Avala Global LP now owns 1,147,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,376,000 after buying an additional 377,500 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 19.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 291,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $19,925,000 after buying an additional 47,965 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,917,000 after buying an additional 27,849 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 137.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,976,000 after acquiring an additional 25,262 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.