Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $80.00 at Barclays

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target raised by Barclays from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James lowered Western Digital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Western Digital from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $73.72.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.55 on Monday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $76.92. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.46 and its 200 day moving average is $54.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $22.66 billion, a PE ratio of -9.75 and a beta of 1.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.69) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 614 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in Western Digital by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.