Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 745 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,522 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 745 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,857,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $595,369,000 after buying an additional 206,756 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 5.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $218,400,000 after acquiring an additional 143,074 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Western Digital by 39.6% during the 2nd 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 period. AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,194,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 247.0% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $92.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.29 on Wednesday. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $46.05 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of 38.41 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $66.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during 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 quarter last year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 188,144 shares of company stock valued at $13,281,983. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.