Morgan Stanley Raises Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target to $78.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target hoisted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $78.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 31.10% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $57.00 in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on Western Digital from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $82.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.79.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC traded up $2.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $59.50. The company had a trading volume of 2,916,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,458,316. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Western Digital has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $20.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.30. Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The company had revenue of ($1,465.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 33.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total transaction of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 40,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,200,084.32. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $548,354.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 605,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,178,129.39. This represents a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 77.2% during the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,662 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 3,338 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $7,641,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Bluefin Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $649,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1,882.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 185,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,515,000 after purchasing an additional 176,514 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.