Western Digital Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 24,530 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 21% compared to the average daily volume of 20,222 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Western Digital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $926,879,000 after buying an additional 423,651 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $539,355,000 after purchasing an additional 76,781 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 24.6% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 13.2% during the third quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $224,497,000 after purchasing an additional 383,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 25.7% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,034,000 after purchasing an additional 651,847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.65.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of WDC stock traded up $2.92 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $67.96. The company had a trading volume of 3,362,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,916,944. 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 has a 1-year low of $52.77 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.38 and a 200 day moving average of $66.14. The firm has a market cap of $23.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 6.26 EPS for the current 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.