Holocene Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 651,847 shares during the quarter. Western Digital accounts for 0.9% of Holocene Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Holocene Advisors LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $218,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 1.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 15.6% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,527 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 10.7% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the second quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 10,344 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 185,963 shares of company stock valued at $13,154,039. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $72.99 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $67.10 and its 200 day moving average is $69.09. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $46.47 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.94 and a beta of 1.42.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.