Short Interest in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Increases By 22.2%

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,570,000 shares, a growth of 22.2% from the January 31st total of 24,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.05.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 32.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $50,191,000 after acquiring an additional 50,188 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $23,305,000 after acquiring an additional 15,189 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,432 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $44.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 1.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.79 and its 200 day moving average is $65.01. 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 has a 52-week low of $39.58 and a 52-week high of $61.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS 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.