Avanza Fonder AB Invests $1.57 Million in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,324 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,570,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Western Digital by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 818 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $46,053.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WDC. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, November 29th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.65.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $65.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.31. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $52.76 and a 52-week high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.97) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.