Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 100,826 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 791,512 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 100,826 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Western Digital worth $54,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194,603 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Western Digital by 247.0% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,658 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,089.7% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,071,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $73,126,000 after purchasing an additional 981,527 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 39.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 304.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 709,386 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $53,750,000 after purchasing an additional 534,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $62.80 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.32. The company has a market cap of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.94 and a beta of 1.40. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $45.23 and a twelve month high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total transaction of $5,274,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,561 shares of company stock valued at $13,309,042. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.