Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Cut to $80.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $90.00 to $80.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.65.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.04 on Friday. Western Digital has a one year low of $52.76 and a one 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 company has a market cap of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.39.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.97) EPS. Research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

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