AMF Tjanstepension AB Reduces Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• AMF Tjanstepension AB cut its Western Digital stake by 22.3% in the first quarter, selling 394,049 shares and leaving it with 1,373,910 shares worth about $371.6 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly bullish, with analysts lifting price targets on WDC and consensus data showing a “Moderate Buy” rating and a target price of $508.32.
• Western Digital posted strong quarterly results and raised its dividend, beating EPS and revenue estimates, issuing upbeat guidance, and increasing its quarterly payout from $0.12 to $0.15 per share.

AMF Tjanstepension AB lowered its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 22.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,373,910 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 394,049 shares during the period. Western Digital comprises about 2.5% of AMF Tjanstepension AB's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. AMF Tjanstepension AB owned 0.41% of Western Digital worth $371,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in 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 worth $291,422,000 after buying an additional 1,231,477 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on WDC. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $508.32.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turned more bullish on Western Digital, with reports highlighting strong AI storage demand and multiple price-target hikes, including Susquehanna’s increase to $500 and broader Wall Street optimism. Seagate Stock Rises After Analyst Upgrades To Buy. Western Digital Nabs Price-Target Hike.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent articles say WDC is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks as investors regain confidence in AI infrastructure spending and storage demand. Western Digital and Seagate Surge 7%, Micron and SanDisk Climb 6% as Memory Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other commentary continue to frame Western Digital as an AI infrastructure winner, citing strong revenue growth, margin expansion, and an improved outlook for future earnings. Micron & One AI Infrastructure Stock to Buy Now for Big Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: One item flagged an apparent short-interest update showing zero shares reported, but the data appears unusual and is unlikely to be a meaningful trading signal on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: Some valuation-focused commentary suggests the stock may be getting expensive on earnings metrics even after its strong run, which could limit upside if growth expectations cool. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings

Insider Activity

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

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $582.59 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $555.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $374.22. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $64.23 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Western Digital Company 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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