Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 108,486 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,225,201 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 108,486 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.35% of Western Digital worth $73,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

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Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,810,575.36. The trade was a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Benchmark lowered shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.21.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $41.78. 4,999,144 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,078,694. The stock's 50-day moving average is $54.13 and its 200-day moving average is $61.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $39.10 and a 52 week high of $81.55. The stock has a market cap of $14.53 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current 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.