Empowered Funds LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC has significantly increased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation, raising its stake by 1,882.8% to a total of 185,889 shares worth approximately $7.5 million.
• Western Digital's stock recently received favorable ratings from analysts, with Zacks Research upgrading it to a "strong-buy" rating and a consensus price target of $80.50.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 18th.

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 1,882.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,889 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 176,514 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned 0.05% of Western Digital worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $284,000. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $316,000. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4.5% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 6,080 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $354,000. Finally, Sciencast Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $813,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BNP Paribas reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total value of $654,333.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,148,052.40. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total value of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at $10,121,547.78. This represents a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,975 shares of company stock valued at $3,935,806 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $95.02 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $75.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $96.18. The firm has a market cap of $33.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.69.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

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.

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