CW Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• CW Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation, purchasing 13,931 shares valued at approximately $563,000 in the first quarter.
• Western Digital reported a 30% increase in revenue year-over-year, posting $2.61 billion for the quarter, and beat analysts' EPS consensus by $0.18.
• The company will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share on September 18th, with an annualized dividend yield of 0.5%.

CW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 13,931 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $688,000. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $351,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,397,671 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $202,603,000 after acquiring an additional 478,269 shares during the period. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $55,456,000. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $230,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 353 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.90, for a total value of $28,557.70. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 27,425 shares in the company, valued at $2,218,682.50. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 594,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,148,052.40. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,361 shares of company stock worth $3,006,534 over the last three months. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDC. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target on Western Digital from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $78.39.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of WDC stock traded down $1.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $80.34. 5,004,383 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,060,305. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.58. The business's fifty day moving average is $70.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.45. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $82.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

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

Western Digital announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Western Digital Company Profile

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.