Arizona State Retirement System Raises Stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,372 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 6,823 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Western Digital by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $926,879,000 after acquiring an additional 423,651 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $539,355,000 after purchasing an additional 76,781 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 24.6% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,711,428 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $253,453,000 after purchasing an additional 732,344 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,287,400 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $224,497,000 after purchasing an additional 383,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 3,192,762 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $218,034,000 after buying an additional 651,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on WDC. UBS Group increased their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Benchmark lowered shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded up $1.26 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.80. 9,283,606 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,383,135. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $61.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.37. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.42 and a fifty-two week high of $61.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 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.