15,849 Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Alta Advisers Ltd

Key Points

• Alta Advisers sharply reduced its Western Digital stake, selling 15,849 shares, or 86.3%, in the third quarter and retaining 2,523 shares valued at about $1.15 million.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $4.64, beating the $4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.15 to $0.175 per share.
• Despite strong results and a generally positive analyst consensus, the article reports WDC shares down 17.4%; AI-investment uncertainty, valuation concerns and execution risks were among the factors weighing on sentiment.

Alta Advisers Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,523 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 15,849 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WDC. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,058 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,389,000 after acquiring an additional 2,248 shares during the last quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 479 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 1,562.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 133 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors Inc. now owns 515 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,311 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Trading Down 17.4%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $267.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $410.72 and a 200 day moving average of $418.77. The stock has a market cap of $100.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 2.27. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $132.43 and a twelve month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.72%.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Margin growth and HDD demand support the outlook. Reports point to stronger pricing, demand for higher-capacity hard drives, AI-related storage needs and operational efficiencies as drivers of gross-margin expansion. Western Digital’s recent earnings beat and outlook were also cited as signs of potential further margin improvement. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded WDC to “strong buy” from “hold.” The upgrade provides a positive analyst signal amid the pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation expectations were trimmed. One valuation model lowered its fair-value estimate to US$613.38 from US$650.67. The revised estimate remains above the reported share price, but the cut reflects questions about how much HDD strength is already priced in and uncertainty around customer capital spending and future supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI-policy headlines pressured storage and memory stocks. A lawmaker’s call for a pause in AI development added uncertainty about future data-center investment, extending a broader selloff in memory and storage shares. The reports describe a market reaction to the proposal, not an enacted policy. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain alert to valuation and execution risks. Commentary flagged premium-valuation concerns and the challenge of executing next-generation HAMR drive technology, tempering optimism about earnings and margins. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Western Digital from $590.00 to $770.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $540.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $900.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at $41,392,640. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.

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