Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Lowered to $80.00 at Citigroup

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target lowered by research analysts at Citigroup from $82.00 to $80.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 21.62% from the stock’s current price.

WDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays cut their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.79.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded up $2.98 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $65.78. 16,553,190 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,702,572. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $52.77 and a 52 week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,347 shares of company stock valued at $93,027. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sachem Head Capital Management LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 2,030,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,629,000 after acquiring an additional 871,500 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 24.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in Western Digital by 25.7% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $218,034,000 after purchasing an additional 651,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Western Digital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $926,879,000 after buying an additional 423,651 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $224,497,000 after buying an additional 383,390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.