Empowered Funds LLC Sells 73,808 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 88.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,375 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 73,808 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $200,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded down $2.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.71. 9,049,351 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,672,467. The business's 50-day moving average price is $64.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.45. The company has a market cap of $23.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36 and a beta of 1.44. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $52.77 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 28,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. 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 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.