Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Invests $11.95 Million in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 175,005 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,952,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays increased their price target on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $73.02 on Wednesday. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $46.28 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.95 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $66.58 and a 200 day moving average of $69.06.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 186,278 shares of company stock valued at $13,173,985. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company 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.