Two Sigma Advisers LP Trims Position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Two Sigma Advisers LP lessened its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,638,800 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 1,056,900 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned about 0.76% of Western Digital worth $180,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 5.4% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,929 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $200,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 15,962 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 10.7% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,203 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% during the second quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. now owns 10,344 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $90.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.94, for a total value of $139,390.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,140,723.52. This trade represents a 6.11 % 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, 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,107 shares of company stock worth $13,042,381 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock traded down $1.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.97. 1,838,753 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,028,532. Western Digital Co. has a 52 week low of $46.75 and a 52 week high of $81.55. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.54 and a beta of 1.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS 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 business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.97) earnings per share. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.