683 Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• 683 Capital Management cut its Western Digital stake by 57.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 195,700 shares and ending with 143,300 shares valued at about $24.7 million.
• Western Digital has seen strong institutional interest overall, with hedge funds and other investors owning 92.51% of the stock and several firms making large additions to their positions.
• The stock has rallied on AI and cloud storage demand, with analysts raising price targets and the company recently reporting earnings and revenue that beat estimates, while also increasing its quarterly dividend.

683 Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 57.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 195,700 shares during the period. Western Digital accounts for 1.1% of 683 Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. 683 Capital Management LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $24,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% in the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $291,422,000 after buying an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley boosted its outlook on Western Digital, lifting its price target and reinforcing a bullish view on HDD demand and the company’s HAMR roadmap, which helped push the shares to new highs. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here's Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to surging AI infrastructure spending and cloud storage demand as the main catalyst, with Western Digital increasingly viewed as a beneficiary of the AI trade. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says earnings are nearly doubling on AI and cloud demand, while estimates continue to move higher, supporting momentum-trader interest in WDC. Western Digital (WDC) Moves 4.2% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching the June 22 SanDisk-related catalyst, which could influence sentiment but is not yet a confirmed financial event. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary warns the rally may have run ahead of fundamentals and could be due for a near-term pullback after the stock’s massive year-to-date run. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Western Digital Trading Up 4.6%

Western Digital stock opened at $712.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $245.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $470.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $320.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.53 and a 12-month high of $741.85.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $450.46.

Western Digital 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.