Jump Financial LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Jump Financial LLC decreased its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 73.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,564 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 189,482 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,691,000 after buying an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 841,700 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $50,191,000 after purchasing an additional 50,188 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 390,826 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $23,305,000 after purchasing an additional 15,189 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 83.9% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,930,000 after purchasing an additional 34,579 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Benchmark upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $100.00 to $80.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $74.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $73.68.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $36.51. The stock had a trading volume of 7,393,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,365,914. The firm has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 1.39. Western Digital Co. has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $81.55. The business has a fifty day moving average of $45.41 and a 200 day moving average of $58.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.95%. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total transaction of $68,616.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 43,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,810,575.36. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.