PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Purchases 3,179 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,551 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,179 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,086,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,619 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.2% in the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 277,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,917,000 after purchasing an additional 27,849 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 137.9% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 43,575 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,976,000 after buying an additional 25,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ghisallo Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $13,260,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,019,957.96. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 185,620 shares of company stock valued at $13,127,932. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.5 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.43 on Tuesday. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $46.28 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $66.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.84 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.97) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current year.

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.