Kovack Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,838 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in Western Digital by 2.7% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 7,857,586 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $595,369,000 after acquiring an additional 206,756 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,881,847 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $218,400,000 after purchasing an additional 143,074 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Western Digital by 39.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,861,229 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $216,795,000 after purchasing an additional 810,977 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 28,925.8% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,202,190 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $166,860,000 after buying an additional 2,194,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Western Digital by 247.0% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,446,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $109,602,000 after buying an additional 1,029,658 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.7 %

Western Digital stock opened at $62.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Western Digital Co. has a 1-year low of $45.23 and a 1-year high of $81.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.32. The company has a market capitalization of $21.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.94 and a beta of 1.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($1.97) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,051,021.60. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. The trade was a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 188,561 shares of company stock worth $13,309,042. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.