Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $1.50 Billion Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,938,787 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,230,568 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $1,497,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $30,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 121.7% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 614 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 416 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.88, for a total value of $29,902.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,179,473.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 26,853 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.48, for a total value of $1,973,158.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 144,623 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,626,898.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.88, for a total value of $29,902.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,179,473.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,488 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,143. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James downgraded Western Digital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wedbush boosted their target price on Western Digital from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.96.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $68.26. The stock had a trading volume of 4,473,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,035,107. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a PE ratio of -13.73 and a beta of 1.37. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.62 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 13.75% and a negative net margin of 12.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.57) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Co. will post -1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Profile

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.