California Public Employees Retirement System Raises Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 515,793 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 87,281 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.15% of Western Digital worth $30,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $50,191,000 after buying an additional 50,188 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $23,305,000 after purchasing an additional 15,189 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after buying an additional 14,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,930,000 after acquiring an additional 34,579 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. This trade represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Western Digital from $60.45 to $64.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.21.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.0 %

WDC stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $31.16. The stock had a trading volume of 14,471,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,197,530. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.21. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.42 and a beta of 1.39. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $81.55.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its 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 return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 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.