Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Purchases 2,842,822 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Alyeska Investment Group L.P. significantly increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 130.0%, owning approximately 5 million shares valued at about $203.34 million.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly earnings of $1.66 per share, surpassing estimates and showing a 30% revenue increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, translating to an annual yield of 0.5%, alongside a substantial $2 billion share buyback program.

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 130.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,842,822 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up approximately 0.8% of Alyeska Investment Group L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned approximately 1.44% of Western Digital worth $203,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $688,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in Western Digital by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,161 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its position in Western Digital by 300.5% in the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 32,336 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 24,262 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,431 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of WDC stock traded up $1.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $92.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,309,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,167,732. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $73.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $32.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.69. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $93.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total value of $1,051,930.26. Following the sale, the insider owned 135,351 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total transaction of $28,557.70. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,682.50. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,975 shares of company stock worth $3,935,806. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.28.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.