2,515 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Bought by Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A.

Key Points

• Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking opened a new position in Western Digital, buying 2,515 shares valued at about $433,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter, with EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,515 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $433,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% in the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.4%

WDC stock opened at $484.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 2.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $373.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.41. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.00 and a 52 week high of $525.15.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $395.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,785 shares of company stock worth $18,097,954. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.

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