Diversify Advisory Services LLC Takes $3.23 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Diversify Advisory Services initiated a $3.23 million position in Western Digital by purchasing 6,485 shares, while institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the stock.
• Western Digital exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.56 in EPS and $3.75 billion in revenue, with revenue up 43.8% year over year. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $534.56.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, while insiders sold more than $11.6 million of stock over the past quarter; WDC also faces volatility from elevated valuation concerns, rising yields and shifting sentiment toward AI-related shares.

Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,485 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,229,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,339,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. RHS Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $331,000. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $8,999,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $676.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $556.08 and a 200-day moving average of $430.29. The company has a market cap of $171.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $73.14 and a one year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Key Western Digital News

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 Transactions at Western Digital

In related 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Western Digital

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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