Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors bought a new 19,616-share position in Western Digital during the second quarter, valued at approximately $12.5 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56, beating estimates by $0.25, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion. The company issued fiscal Q1 2027 EPS guidance of $3.85 to $4.15.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $534.56. Western Digital also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, while insiders sold 24,679 shares worth about $11.45 million over the past three months.

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,616 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $12,529,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $469.05 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $554.31 and a 200-day moving average of $433.12. The stock has a market cap of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.42 and a 52-week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% 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 link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% 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. Insiders sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

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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