Barclays Increases Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $80.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Barclays from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.42% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on WDC. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.72.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $69.92 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.81 and a beta of 1.56. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $31.97 and a fifty-two week high of $76.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.69) earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 110,212 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,521,000 after purchasing an additional 29,079 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,841 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New bought a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $236,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 78.1% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,310 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,522,000 after acquiring an additional 9,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 62,555 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,269,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% 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.