Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $3.06 Million Stock Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,874 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 3,701 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $134,391.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 32,601 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,019,957.96. This trade represents a 6.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 185,963 shares of company stock valued at $13,154,039. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WDC. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas cut their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $92.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $71.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.73 and a 200-day moving average of $69.07. Western Digital Co. has a one year low of $46.42 and a one year high of $81.55. The company has a market cap of $24.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.06 and a beta of 1.40.

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