State Street Corp Has $926.88 Million Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,572,686 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 423,651 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 3.93% of Western Digital worth $926,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Western Digital by 22.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 10,344 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $784,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $2,092,463.67. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This trade represents a 18.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total transaction of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,140,723.52. This represents a 6.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock traded down $1.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $71.07. 3,760,053 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,915,117. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $67.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.03. Western Digital Co. has a twelve month low of $46.75 and a twelve month high of $81.55. The firm has a market cap of $24.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($1.97) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.