IFM Investors Pty Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 62,555 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,900,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $150,958,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $48,466,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,361,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $609,708,000 after buying an additional 870,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $37,260,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Western Digital from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $83.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $72.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $68.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,321,850. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock traded up $1.92 on Friday, hitting $71.36. 13,869,066 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,070,411. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.08 and its 200 day moving average is $54.96. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $32.01 and a 52-week high of $76.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.57) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital 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.