Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Acquired by Nexus Investment Management ULC

Nexus Investment Management ULC grew its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 412,403 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,415 shares during the period. Western Digital comprises about 1.7% of Nexus Investment Management ULC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Nexus Investment Management ULC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $15,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Western Digital by 75.3% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 661 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $27,000. CI Investments Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 114.4% during the fourth quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 879 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Western Digital to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 13th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $41.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.18.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 2,169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.42, for a total transaction of $98,515.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,011 shares in the company, valued at $1,953,559.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.71. 312,228 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,909,928. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.41. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.73 and a fifty-two week high of $46.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The data storage provider reported ($1.98) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.30) by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.53 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 11.96% and a negative net margin of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue was down 41.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post -5.38 earnings per share 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.