Empower Advisory Group LLC Makes New $493,000 Investment in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Empower Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,218 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $493,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Robert Soderbery sold 30,767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,208,417.98. This represents a 18.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 75,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,633,905.40. This represents a 8.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 188,561 shares of company stock valued at $13,309,042. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of WDC stock opened at $63.22 on Friday. Western Digital Co. has a 12-month low of $45.23 and a 12-month high of $81.55. The company has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 37.19 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $66.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 8.57% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.97) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Co. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $79.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $74.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.71.

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.