Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Rating Lowered to Market Perform at Raymond James

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) was downgraded by research analysts at Raymond James from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com cut Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.17.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $66.05 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.26. The company has a market capitalization of $21.52 billion, a PE ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.69) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 103,750 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,433,000 after buying an additional 24,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,028,114 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $138,173,000 after purchasing an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Numerai GP LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $1,415,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 441.7% in the third quarter. Sora Investors LLC now owns 325,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,830,000 after purchasing an additional 265,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.