4,469 Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by VestGen Advisors LLC

Key Points

• VestGen Advisors cut its Western Digital stake by 51.7% in the third quarter, selling 4,469 shares and retaining 4,182 shares valued at approximately $1.9 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of WDC.
• Western Digital reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including $4.38 billion in revenue and $4.64 in non-GAAP EPS, while forecasting about $5.1 billion in next-quarter revenue and $5.80 in EPS on continued AI-driven storage demand.
• Despite bullish analyst sentiment and a “Moderate Buy” consensus, WDC faces pressure from storage-sector volatility, concerns over AI spending sustainability, capital requirements and insider selling. The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.175 per share.

VestGen Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 51.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,182 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 4,469 shares during the quarter. VestGen Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 182.6% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 65 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $4.38 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 and free cash flow of $1.38 billion, exceeding expectations. Management also forecast approximately $5.1 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue and $5.80 in non-GAAP EPS, signaling continued strength in AI-related data-center storage demand. Western Digital slides as strong results fail to calm spending and sector worries
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets remain well above the current trading level, with Quiver Quantitative citing a six-month median target of $650. Several analysts view Western Digital as a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure expansion and rising demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Western Digital selloff and analyst targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate are both benefiting from AI data-center spending. However, comparisons favor Seagate on some metrics, including return on equity, valuation and free-cash-flow generation, potentially affecting investor preference within the storage group. Seagate versus Western Digital
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending and lofty storage-sector valuations can remain sustainable. A sharp decline in Sandisk and weakness across memory and semiconductor stocks amplified pressure on WDC, even after Sandisk delivered strong results and raised guidance. Memory-sector selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly capital spending of $227 million, continued buybacks and capacity and technology-transition needs have raised concerns about cash demands and future returns. Profit-taking after WDC’s substantial earlier advance may also be contributing to the decline. Quiver also reports 110 insider sales and no insider purchases over the past six months, an additional sentiment headwind. Western Digital spending and insider activity

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $366.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $132.43 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The company's 50-day moving average is $421.46 and its 200 day moving average is $416.75.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital's payout ratio is 2.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Mizuho set a $490.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Argus decreased their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $591.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 807 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $41,392,640. This represents a 0.74% 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 90 days, insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. Insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

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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