Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Stock analysts at Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 price target on the data storage provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.23% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on WDC. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $52.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Western Digital from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.00.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $68.24 on Wednesday. Western Digital has a one year low of $31.97 and a one year high of $69.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.57 and a beta of 1.55. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. The business had revenue of $3.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.69) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,577 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Western Digital by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 614 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 37,156 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. 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.