Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 76,781 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,921,608 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 76,781 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.29% of Western Digital worth $539,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,897 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,896 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 225.5% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,569 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Western Digital by 95.9% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 243,812 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $18,474,000 after buying an additional 119,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.32, for a total value of $5,274,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 896,630 shares in the company, valued at $63,051,021.60. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. This represents a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $65.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,996,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,023,671. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $67.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Western Digital Co. has a fifty-two week low of $48.96 and a fifty-two week high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.31 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($1.97) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Barclays increased their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, November 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.71.

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.