Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 185,862 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 19,193 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $11,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 22.6% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 8,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark cut 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. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.21.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $40.62 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $39.42 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The stock has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.67 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.69 and a 200 day moving average of $62.42. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

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.