Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 8,363 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management reduced its Western Digital stake by 23.3% in the first quarter, selling 8,363 shares and leaving it with 27,537 shares valued at about $7.45 million.
• Western Digital reported a strong fiscal quarter, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping expectations; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share.
• Despite some recent profit-taking in the memory chip sector, analysts remain generally constructive on WDC, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of about $450.46.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 23.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,537 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 8,363 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. BOKF NA lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s strong quarterly results reinforced the AI-driven memory shortage theme, which has lifted Western Digital along with other memory stocks. Western Digital Stock And Seagate Get Boost From Big Micron Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight strong AI memory demand, rising estimate revisions, and favorable supply-demand dynamics for WDC. Micron's Robust Q3 Results Raise Investor Attention on These 3 Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of SK Hynix planning a Nasdaq listing on July 10 add more attention to the broader memory ecosystem, but the direct impact on WDC is unclear. Is the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) a Buy Before July 10?
• Negative Sentiment: After the sector’s big rally, memory and semiconductor stocks are pulling back as investors take profits and worry that memory and storage costs may have gotten ahead of fundamentals. MU, SNDK, WDC: 3 Key Reasons Why Memory Stocks Are Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech-sector weakness is weighing on WDC alongside other chip names, adding to the selloff in the group. Semiconductor stocks retreat over worries about memory costs

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $586.45 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $62.65 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $518.00 and a 200 day moving average of $345.86.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. 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. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $450.46.

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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