Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 4.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report)’s share price traded up 4.1% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $78.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $59.07 and last traded at $59.74. 575,421 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 6,451,101 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.41.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Western Digital from $76.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays set a $50.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Summit Insights raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.79.

View Our Latest Stock Report on WDC

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Western Digital by 34.1% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.54. The company has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 13.33% and a return on equity of 20.58%. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 4th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.58%.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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