Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Sells 5,057 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut its Western Digital stake by 37.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 5,057 shares and ending with 8,348 shares valued at about $1.43 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish, with analysts giving Western Digital a “Moderate Buy” consensus and a $395.83 average price target after multiple firms raised targets or reiterated outperform ratings.
• Western Digital’s fundamentals and outlook look strong: it beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15, and continues to benefit from investor optimism around AI-driven demand for storage and memory chips.

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lessened its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 37.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,348 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 5,057 shares during the quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft's holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WDC. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip stocks, including Western Digital, Micron, SanDisk, and Seagate, are rising in premarket trading as investors continue to bet that AI infrastructure will keep driving strong demand for storage and memory components. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A new memory-focused ETF has surged, reinforcing the market’s belief that memory chips are a key bottleneck in AI buildout and supporting sentiment for Western Digital as an AI-storage beneficiary. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several outlets highlighted Western Digital as a strong AI/storage name and a possible undervalued stock, which can help support investor confidence but does not add new fundamental information. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat flagged WDC within a broader market caution note, but the piece is more about macro risk and sector rotation than a company-specific issue. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was called out in a “memory supercycle” pullback as traders locked in gains across the memory and storage group, suggesting recent weakness may reflect profit-taking after a huge rally rather than a new business problem. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said the entire memory and storage complex sold off together, with Western Digital dropping alongside Micron and SanDisk, which points to sector-wide rotation pressure on WDC. Article Title

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.1%

Western Digital stock opened at $494.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $170.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $48.58 and a 52 week high of $525.15. The business's 50-day moving average price is $342.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $252.65.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue for the quarter 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 expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 2.99%.

Western Digital 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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