3,268 Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Acquired by Axxcess Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• Axxcess Wealth Management increased its Western Digital stake by 947.2%, purchasing 3,268 additional shares to hold 3,613 shares valued at approximately $1.64 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 adjusted EPS of $4.64 and revenue of $4.38 billion, both above expectations, with results supported by strong cloud and data-center demand. Management issued stronger fiscal Q2 guidance of roughly $5.0–$5.2 billion in revenue and $5.60–$6.00 in adjusted EPS.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $584 price target, though several firms recently lowered targets amid concerns about elevated capital spending, potential supply increases, margin sustainability and the HAMR technology transition.

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 947.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,613 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,268 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Western Digital from $540.00 to $430.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Summit Insights downgraded shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $584.00.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $343.67 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $432.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $479.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $121.85 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. The firm 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 56.91% and a net margin of 69.20%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

Western Digital Company 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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