Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 31.78% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Barclays set a $50.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.79.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.1%

Western Digital stock opened at $59.19 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $80.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.54. The firm has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 1.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a return on equity of 20.58% and a net margin of 13.33%. The business had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares in the company, valued at $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,353 shares of company stock worth $657,454 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,109,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Western Digital by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 4,187 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in Western Digital by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 137,360 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,338,000 after acquiring an additional 5,159 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Western Digital by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 11,804 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Western Digital by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 628,672 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,488,000 after acquiring an additional 8,029 shares in 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.