Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Makes New $1.42 Million Investment in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 27,148 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,422,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,433,000 after acquiring an additional 24,100 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 66,680 shares during the period. Numerai GP LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $884,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 441.7% during the third quarter. Sora Investors LLC now owns 325,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,830,000 after acquiring an additional 265,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $71.36 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $32.01 and a 12-month high of $76.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.96.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.67%. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.57) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

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.