Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 16,639 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Atlas Capital Advisors initiated a new position in Western Digital, buying 16,639 shares in the fourth quarter worth about $2.87 million.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 versus the $2.39 estimate and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year. The company also issued Q4 2026 guidance of $3.10 to $3.40 EPS.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, and analyst sentiment remains constructive with multiple firms lifting price targets, including JPMorgan to $650 and Citigroup to $685.

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 16,639 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,866,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.4%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $562.92 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $54.60 and a 12 month high of $602.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $447.23 and a 200-day moving average of $307.91. The company has a market cap of $194.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.61 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its 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. 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 business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 3.58%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Western Digital from $530 to $650 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling more upside potential for the shares. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a Sandisk share exchange with institutional investors, a move that has been interpreted as supportive of the stock and part of a broader capital strategy. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital highlighted AI-focused storage innovation at Computex, reinforcing the market’s view that it is well positioned to benefit from data-center and AI infrastructure spending. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also pointed to strong free cash flow, a larger dividend, and a new $4 billion buyback plan, which supports the investment case by showing confidence in cash generation and shareholder returns. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has been outperforming the broader market over the past year, and brokerages still generally rate the stock a moderate buy, which supports sentiment but is more of a confirmation than a new catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One recent market note said WDC slipped with the broader market after a hotter-than-expected CPI report revived rate-hike concerns, showing that macro pressure can still weigh on the stock at times. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $443.71.

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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