Advisors Preferred LLC Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Advisors Preferred LLC purchased 4,808 Western Digital shares during the second quarter, valued at approximately $2.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56, beating estimates of $3.31, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion. The company issued fiscal Q1 2027 EPS guidance of $3.85–$4.15.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive view, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $534.56. Western Digital also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, equal to a 0.1% yield.

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,808 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,592,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $469.05 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.42 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $554.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $433.12.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm's revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

About Western Digital

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WDC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report).

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source