The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 69,063 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 10.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 744,938 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,063 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $50,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 241.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 670 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,401 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its stake in Western Digital by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 154,365 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $10,534,000 after purchasing an additional 21,566 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,492,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $71.50 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.09. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $46.42 and a 1 year high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $24.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total transaction of $5,443,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total value of $134,391.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 32,601 shares in the company, valued at $2,019,957.96. The trade was a 6.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 185,963 shares of company stock worth $13,154,039 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Summit Insights cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.71.

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.