Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Upgraded to Buy by Benchmark

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Benchmark from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $85.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.41% from the company’s current price.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI began coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.32.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ WDC opened at $69.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.74 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $32.01 and a twelve month high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.57) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, 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 value of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,900,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $150,958,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $48,466,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 870,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $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.