Cwm LLC Buys 20,218 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Cwm LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 24.6%, buying 20,218 shares to hold 102,527 shares valued at about $17.66 million at the end of the quarter.
• WDC has seen heavy institutional accumulation and analyst upgrades — including price-target raises to $415 (Bank of America), $400 (JPMorgan) and $405 (Citigroup) — backed by an earnings beat, multi‑year AI storage commitments, a 25% dividend hike and share buybacks.
• Despite strong institutional ownership (about 92.51%), insiders have sold roughly 92,795 shares (~$24.3M) in the last three months, presenting a mixed signal for near‑term sentiment.

Cwm LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 24.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,527 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 20,218 shares during the period. Cwm LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $17,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of 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 worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its WDC price target to $415 and assigned a "buy" rating, signaling increased analyst conviction and implying further upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $400 and moved to "overweight," another institutional upgrade supporting the rally and likely attracting more buyer interest. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals and earnings momentum — WDC has a recent track record of beats and raised guidance drivers (high-capacity/HAMR drives, manufacturing productivity). Analysts and outlets highlight the company as positioned to beat again, which supports valuation multiple expansion. Will Western Digital (WDC) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: WDC reported multi‑year AI storage commitments from large customers, boosted its dividend by 25% and announced meaningful buybacks — all shareholder‑friendly actions that underpin investor confidence in continued demand from AI workloads. Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 7.7% After Securing Multi‑Year AI Storage Commitments And Boosting Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Broader market strength (Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq gains and new highs) is lifting cyclical and growth names, providing tailwinds for WDC’s share price. Dow jumps 800 points, S&P 500 at new record, Nasdaq gains 6.8% this week
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage notes WDC hitting record highs and strong institutional buying, but also documents insider selling activity — the market reaction so far shows buyers outweighing internal selling, so this is mixed for near‑term direction. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges to Record Peak Despite Insider Sales Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Retail SSD price cuts (example: WD Blue SN5100 markdown) could signal near‑term ASP pressure in consumer channels and tighter margins if competition forces broader discounting. WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD drops to $324.61 in latest price cut

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total value of $2,174,815.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 99,276 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,347,148.32. This trade represents a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, April 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $304.29.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of WDC opened at $372.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $293.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $215.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $35.51 and a 1 year high of $378.98.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital's revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

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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