DNB Asset Management AS Purchases 1,238,504 Shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

DNB Asset Management AS grew its position in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,780,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,238,504 shares during the quarter. Western Digital comprises 1.3% of DNB Asset Management AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $182,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 299.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 107.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 883 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 85.47% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Western Digital from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Mizuho upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, February 10th. Benchmark upgraded Western Digital from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 6th. Craig Hallum boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.19.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.08. 6,316,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,653,205. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $11.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -120.97 and a beta of 1.68. Western Digital Co. has a 1 year low of $29.73 and a 1 year high of $63.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.82 and a 200 day moving average of $37.08.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 31st. The data storage provider reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.34). Western Digital had a positive return on equity of 5.78% and a negative net margin of 0.59%. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 35.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Co. will post -4.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Profile

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Western Digital Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of data storage devices and solutions. It operates through the Flash and Hard Disk Drive segments. The Flash segment represents flash-based data storage devices. The Hard Disk Drive segment provides hard disk storage solutions.