Broad Bay Capital Management LP Grows Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Broad Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 112.3%, owning 819,511 shares valued at approximately $33.1 million, making it the firm's 6th largest holding.
• Western Digital recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share and has a buyback authorization plan of $2 billion, indicating confidence in its share value.
• Analysts have expressed a positive outlook on Western Digital, with Mizuho raising its price target from $75 to $87 and the consensus average target price sitting at $78.39.

Broad Bay Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 112.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 819,511 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 433,511 shares during the period. Western Digital makes up approximately 4.9% of Broad Bay Capital Management LP's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Broad Bay Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.23% of Western Digital worth $33,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $688,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $351,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Western Digital by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,397,671 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $202,603,000 after purchasing an additional 478,269 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems lifted its stake in Western Digital by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 57,365 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,950,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 5,597 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.26, for a total transaction of $426,827.22. Following the sale, the insider owned 154,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,795,820.54. This trade represents a 3.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total value of $654,333.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 594,836 shares in the company, valued at $45,148,052.40. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,361 shares of company stock valued at $3,006,534 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price target on Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. BNP Paribas reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Western Digital from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $53.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.39.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $82.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $82.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.37.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.

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