Western Digital Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 24,530 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 21% compared to the typical volume of 20,222 call options.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded up $2.39 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $67.43. 7,030,788 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,231,792. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.66 and a beta of 1.43. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $52.77 and a 52-week high of $81.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company's 50 day moving average price is $65.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.07.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 8.57%. Western Digital's revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.97) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.65.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.58, for a total value of $5,443,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 821,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,633,905.40. This trade represents a 8.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 658 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $46,053.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 28,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,020,121.37. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,107 shares of company stock worth $7,768,381. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 932 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Western Digital by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,696 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

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.