Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage set a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.05.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of WDC opened at $49.07 on Wednesday. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $39.58 and a 12-month high of $61.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 1.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.51. 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 (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. As a group, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 11,013 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $50,191,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 124.2% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 21,412 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 11,860 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $23,305,000 after purchasing an additional 15,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Western Digital by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,930,000 after buying an additional 34,579 shares during the period. 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.