Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was downgraded by research analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.72.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $69.92 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $31.97 and a 12-month high of $76.92. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.69) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $212,900,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $150,958,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,466,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $609,708,000 after acquiring an additional 870,971 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,260,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.