Argus Boosts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $88.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective hoisted by Argus from $68.00 to $88.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Argus currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Western Digital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.06 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $32.01 and a 1-year high of $76.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.26.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.57) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,579,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,020,431,000 after purchasing an additional 215,207 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% in the third quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after buying an additional 870,971 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 5,587,698 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $292,628,000 after acquiring an additional 443,903 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $212,900,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,268,764 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $149,154,000 after acquiring an additional 92,009 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.