Bleakley Financial Group LLC Buys New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Bleakley Financial Group LLC disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Western Digital, buying 20,145 shares valued at about $3.47 million.
• Western Digital continues to attract significant institutional interest, with multiple investors adding positions and institutions now owning 92.51% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the stock amid AI-driven storage demand: Western Digital reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, raised its dividend, and has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $413.50.

Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 20,145 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,470,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third 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. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 175.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,655 shares of company stock worth $18,179,038. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Shares are benefiting from a strong sector-wide “memory melt-up,” with AI infrastructure demand supporting higher pricing power and improving earnings expectations for storage makers like Western Digital. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital to $575, calling the stock “underappreciated” as hard disk drives remain critical for AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights Western Digital as a key beneficiary of the AI memory/storage supercycle, with investors searching the name more heavily after strong momentum in peers like Micron and SanDisk. Micron’s $1 Trillion Memory Melt-Up
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small relative to her holdings and was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, so it is unlikely to be a major negative signal for investors. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Another insider sale was also reported the same day, adding to activity that may look cautious, but the transactions appear routine rather than clearly bearish. SEC filing

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $530.60 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $387.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.68. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $546.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.89 billion, a PE ratio of 31.68 and a beta of 2.10.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The business'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. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.99%.

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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