71 West Capital Partners Invests $330,000 in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• 71 West Capital Partners opened a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter, buying 1,916 shares valued at about $330,000.
• Institutional interest remains strong, with several other funds also adding to or initiating stakes in WDC; overall, 92.51% of the stock is held by institutional investors.
• Western Digital has seen upbeat operating and analyst momentum, including a Q4 earnings beat, a dividend increase to $0.15 per share, and multiple firms raising price targets amid optimism over AI-driven storage demand.

71 West Capital Partners purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,916 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $793,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its outlook on Western Digital and boosted its price target, adding to the bullish case that AI data-center growth is driving stronger-than-expected storage demand. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here's Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say WDC is benefiting from a broader re-rating of AI storage stocks, with investors focused on tight hard-disk supply, sold-out inventory, and higher pricing power. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Media coverage highlighted a hyperscaler multiyear commitment to Western Digital, reinforcing confidence that demand from large cloud customers remains robust. Hyperscaler’s Multiyear Commitment with Western Digital (WDC) Highlights Robust Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching June 22 for the planned SanDisk-related swap, which could create another event-driven trading catalyst for WDC. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: One commentary piece argued the stock may be due for a near-term pullback after its huge run-up this year, suggesting valuation and momentum risks could cap gains in the short term. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Western Digital Trading Up 4.2%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $462.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $316.21. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $57.88 and a 12 month high of $729.92.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.

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