Empirical Asset Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Empirical Asset Management initiated a position in Western Digital, buying 2,035 shares valued at approximately $1.3 million. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.56 in EPS versus the $3.31 consensus and $3.75 billion in revenue, up 43.8% year over year. Management issued fiscal 2027 first-quarter EPS guidance of $3.85–$4.15.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $534.56, though insiders have sold more than $11.6 million in shares over the past 90 days and the stock remains sensitive to valuation and interest-rate concerns.

Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,035 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,300,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Western Digital by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $147,275,000 after acquiring an additional 96,078 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization 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. The company's fifty day moving average price is $556.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $430.29.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. 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 announced 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 is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

Several research firms have weighed in on WDC. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" 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 assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.56.

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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source