Argus Boosts Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $88.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Argus from $68.00 to $88.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Argus’ target price indicates a potential upside of 25.70% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on WDC. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.76.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.9 %

WDC stock traded down $1.35 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $70.01. 1,525,494 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,020,574. The company has a market cap of $22.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.09 and a beta of 1.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $32.01 and a 52 week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.57) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $212,900,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $150,958,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $48,466,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $609,708,000 after purchasing an additional 870,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,260,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.