Advisors Preferred LLC Buys Shares of 5,554 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Advisors Preferred LLC disclosed a new first-quarter position in Western Digital, buying 5,554 shares valued at about $1.5 million.
• Western Digital continues to draw heavy institutional interest, with several major funds significantly adding to their stakes; overall, 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• The company has been posting strong operating results and has upbeat expectations ahead of its August 5 earnings report, with analysts generally maintaining a Moderate Buy view and several raising price targets.

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,554 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,502,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings 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 worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $221,800,000. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $512,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 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. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks after Monday’s sector-wide drop tied to SK Hynix volatility and broader chip-market pressure. SK Hynix ADR Soars 19% as Leveraged ETFs Launch, Lifting Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent analyst notes are bullish on WDC, with commentary citing strong demand, improving pricing, and the possibility of meaningful upside from current levels. Why Analysts Are Betting Western Digital Stock Can Gain Another 30% from Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is in focus, and Wall Street is expecting a strong year-over-year profit jump, which could support the stock if results and guidance beat expectations. Western Digital's Quarterly Earnings Preview: What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: The company has confirmed it will report fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results on August 5, keeping earnings-related speculation elevated in the near term. WD to Announce Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results on August 5, 2026
• Negative Sentiment: WDC remains sensitive to swings in the AI-memory trade, and the stock was recently hit by a sharp sector pullback sparked by SK Hynix’s weak outlook and broader chip-market jitters. SK Hynix’s record plunge drags down global chip stocks

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $563.32 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $65.79 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $560.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $379.58. The company has a market cap of $194.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, 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 report on Friday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

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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