Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 28.05% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on WDC. Barclays set a $50.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BNP Paribas restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 16th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.47.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded up $0.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $66.38. 861,829 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,599,110. The business’s 50 day moving average is $55.66 and its 200-day moving average is $53.03. The company has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $80.09.

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

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the data storage provider to reacquire up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 26,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,817 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Western Digital by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,140,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.