Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Grows Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 64.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 34,950 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Western Digital were worth $24,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $512,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $539.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $63.67 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $539.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $359.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $493.52.

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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