Swedbank AB Boosts Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 19.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 291,777 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,965 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $19,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WDC. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $69.43 on Tuesday. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $46.28 and a 52-week high of $81.55. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.58 and its 200 day moving average is $69.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. The trade was a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 185,620 shares of company stock valued at $13,127,932 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.