Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,862 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 19,193 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.05% of Western Digital worth $11,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 156,247 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $9,317,000 after purchasing an additional 27,017 shares during the period. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,791,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,459,767 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,531,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,149 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $7,366,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,507,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark lowered shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Western Digital from $100.00 to $93.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.21.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Western Digital
Western Digital Price Performance
Western Digital stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $40.43. 8,212,156 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,113,904. 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 12-month low of $39.10 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $55.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.41. The company has a market capitalization of $14.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 1.42.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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