Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Purchases New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired 2,199 Western Digital shares worth approximately $1.4 million, while institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital insiders sold 25,093 shares valued at roughly $11.65 million during the last quarter, including CEO Irving Tan’s $8.9 million sale under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan.
• Despite a 7.4% stock decline, Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56 versus the $3.31 consensus and revenue growth of 43.8% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $534.56.

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,199 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,405,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from improving earnings expectations, stronger storage pricing, and AI-driven cloud demand. Recent coverage characterized the company as a momentum candidate, while its latest results exceeded analyst estimates and management provided a strong fiscal 2027 outlook. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain constructive on the broader memory and storage cycle, citing supply constraints, rising demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, and potential for continued earnings growth. Jim Cramer on Memory and Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s recent rally was supported by bullish commentary about a potential memory bottleneck and by optimism surrounding the company’s margins and forecast-beating outlook. Those gains have left WDC and its peers more sensitive to profit-taking and changes in investor sentiment. Western Digital Stock Jumps as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are pressuring richly valued AI and semiconductor-related shares, encouraging investors to rotate away from the extended memory trade. Western Digital is declining alongside Micron and SanDisk despite the absence of a company-specific negative announcement. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: A Wall Street Journal report concerning previously undisclosed AI spending commitments appears to have intensified concerns about AI-related valuations and corporate spending, weighing on the entire memory and storage group. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Down

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays raised 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Down 7.4%

Western Digital stock opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.14 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The stock's 50 day moving average is $556.08 and its 200 day moving average is $430.29. The company has a market capitalization of $171.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 2.14.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Western Digital Company 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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