ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Acquires 7,279 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. increased its stake in Western Digital by 23.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 7,279 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 38,242 shares valued at about $6.6 million.
• Western Digital posted a strong quarterly beat, reporting $2.72 EPS versus the $2.39 estimate and revenue of $3.34 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share.
• Analysts remain upbeat on the stock, with multiple firms raising price targets and Zacks upgrading it to Strong Buy; Western Digital is also being boosted by optimism around AI-driven storage demand.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,242 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,279 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $6,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. 44 Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% in the third quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.1% in the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $480.09 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $43.88 and a one year high of $483.87. The company has a market cap of $165.48 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 2.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $325.84 and a 200-day moving average of $242.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $395.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total value of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain upbeat on Western Digital, with firms lifting price targets and Zacks upgrading the stock to Strong Buy, signaling rising confidence in demand trends and earnings momentum. Zacks Research upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage is highlighting Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI memory and data-center storage supercycle, with demand for high-capacity storage solutions expected to stay elevated. Motley Fool article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings beat, raised guidance, and multiple target increases from analysts continue to support the stock’s sharp year-to-date gain and keep momentum investors engaged. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital also announced progress on simplifying its structure by unwinding its remaining Sandisk stake through share swaps and future distributions, which may help investors better value WDC as a more focused storage pure play. Yahoo Finance share swap article

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.

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