Avanza Fonder AB Makes New Investment in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 26,324 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,570,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter worth $95,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 274,976 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $20,835,000 after purchasing an additional 6,148 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 5,331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 16.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,711 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,754,000 after buying an additional 3,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Western Digital by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,270 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,460,000 after buying an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on WDC. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. BNP Paribas decreased their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $85.65.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. The trade was a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares in the company, valued at $2,020,121.37. This trade represents a 2.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,107 shares of company stock valued at $7,768,381 in the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.2 %

WDC traded up $0.79 on Friday, hitting $65.04. The company had a trading volume of 7,160,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,729,860. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $52.76 and a 52-week high of $81.55. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26 and a beta of 1.43.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 firm's revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.97) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.26 EPS 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.