Atika Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 37,717 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Atika Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 37,717 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $10,202,000. Western Digital accounts for about 1.3% of Atika Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. MWA Asset Management acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 112,415 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $30,407,000 after acquiring an additional 17,861 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,356.6% during the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 28,914 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,821,000 after purchasing an additional 26,929 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 231.1% during the first quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 20,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,605,000 after purchasing an additional 14,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at $22,476,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital has reentered merger discussions with Kioxia, reviving speculation about a combination that could create a larger NAND flash memory player and unlock value from its flash assets.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlight Western Digital as a beneficiary of strong AI-related storage demand and tight memory supply, which is boosting sentiment across the memory sector.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary says Western Digital looks reasonable on earnings and inexpensive on cash flow, suggesting the stock may still have upside even after a big multi-year rally.
• Positive Sentiment: A report comparing WDC with Super Micro said Western Digital’s AI storage focus and stronger financial footing make it an appealing AI hardware play.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage from the sector noted that memory stocks, including Western Digital, jumped after Morgan Stanley projected memory prices could rise at least 25% from Q2 to Q3, reinforcing expectations for stronger margins and profits.
• Neutral Sentiment: One article framed Western Digital as a stock with a large valuation gap versus DCF-based fair value, reflecting optimism but also implying the recent rally has already priced in some of the good news. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: Another piece simply referenced Western Digital in a broader list of AI stocks to buy on dips, adding to the bullish narrative but not providing a new company-specific catalyst.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value 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 trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $558.30 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $564.15 and its 200-day moving average is $396.20. The company has a market capitalization of $192.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $66.51 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm'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 research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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