Danske Bank A S Invests $180.31 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Danske Bank acquired 282,305 Western Digital shares in the second quarter, worth approximately $180.3 million and representing about 0.08% of the company.
• Institutional investors own 92.51% of Western Digital, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $534.56.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56, topping estimates by $0.25, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share.

Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 282,305 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $180,314,000. Danske Bank A S owned about 0.08% of Western Digital at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital News Summary

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company's stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 7.4%

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

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

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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This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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