Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WDC. StockNews.com began coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Western Digital from $64.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.65.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $44.69 on Thursday. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $15.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.05.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The firm’s revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 47.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $352,572,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,181,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,439,149 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $68,950,000. Finally, Atalan Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $62,612,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.