Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Acquired by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,479 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 137.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 25,262 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Western Digital by 6.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 101,086.4% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 66,783 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,561,000 after acquiring an additional 66,717 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 124.2% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,462,000 after acquiring an additional 11,860 shares during the period. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $493,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.47.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $41.80 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $39.42 and a 52-week high of $61.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.21. The company has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.