Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Purchased by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 515,793 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,281 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $30,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in Western Digital by 19.1% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 6,235 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 14,210 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,177 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $763,000 after acquiring an additional 1,998 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 10,871 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $742,000 after acquiring an additional 3,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $246,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.21.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.2 %

WDC stock opened at $41.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.94. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $39.10 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.