Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 44,628 call options on the company. This is an increase of 69% compared to the average volume of 26,454 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on Western Digital from $83.00 to $72.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $95.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.47.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $41.30. 3,738,100 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,253,650. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 1.42. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $39.42 and a 1 year high of $61.16.

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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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.91 by ($0.36). Western Digital had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 15.68%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,659 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.36, for a total value of $68,616.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 43,776 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 45,131 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 11,013 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 4.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 83.9% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Western Digital by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 99,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,930,000 after purchasing an additional 34,579 shares in the last quarter. 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.