B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Cuts Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG cut its stake in Western Digital by 41.6% in Q4, selling 23,351 shares and retaining 32,836 shares worth about $5.66 million, while institutional ownership remains high at 92.51% and other funds (including AustralianSuper, Mirae and Cantor Fitzgerald) have been adding or initiating positions.
• Insider selling has been notable recently: Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares and Director Matthew Massengill sold 36,926 shares, with insiders disposing of 92,711 shares worth $24.3 million over the past 90 days (insiders now hold 0.18% of stock).
• Western Digital posted an earnings beat (Q reported EPS $2.13 vs $1.93 expected; revenue $3.02B, +25.2% YoY) and benefits from AI/storage optimism and analyst price‑target upgrades, though valuation is elevated (P/E ~40.4) which raises pullback risk if growth/margin assumptions disappoint.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lessened its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 41.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,836 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 23,351 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street price‑target raises and analyst upgrades (Barclays, JPMorgan, BofA and others) have driven buy interest and momentum into the earnings print. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader AI storage optimism — demand from cloud/AI customers and WDC’s high‑capacity HDD roadmap (40TB‑class drives in qualification) support expectations for stronger revenue and margin recovery. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent earnings history and near‑term expectations point to another beat — analysts and trade commentary highlight WDC’s ability to beat consensus, boosting investor positioning. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Peer/sector strength (Micron and memory group) and dedicated memory ETF flows are pulling large‑cap storage names like WDC higher as investors chase exposure to AI‑fuelled demand. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital published its FY2025 sustainability report emphasizing energy efficiency and recycled‑content initiatives — helpful for ESG investor positioning but limited immediate revenue impact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management will appear at multiple investor conferences (Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America) in May–June, which could provide clearer guidance and sustain analyst coverage. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: SanDisk/diversified end‑market exposure (NAND + HDD + enterprise systems) is being highlighted as a revenue‑resilience factor versus pure NAND peers. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Rapid share gains have pushed valuation metrics higher; commentators warn a stretched multiple increases pullback risk if AI demand or margin assumptions disappoint. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider selling activity (disclosed Rule 10b5‑1 sales such as Cynthia Tregillis) is being flagged by trackers — routine for many executives but worth monitoring for signal/size. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $403.12 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $302.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.18. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $38.19 and a one year high of $416.37.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on Western Digital to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $310.79.

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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