Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $80.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Western Digital from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an overweight rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Western Digital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.00.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $67.64 on Wednesday. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $31.97 and a twelve month high of $69.28. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $51.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a PE ratio of -9.49 and a beta of 1.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. Western Digital’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.69) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 93.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,663,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $651,948,000 after purchasing an additional 9,961,971 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 242.7% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 10,606,474 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $399,546,000 after purchasing an additional 7,511,896 shares in the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,900,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,958,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,332.0% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,554,153 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $81,391,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445,625 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.