Forsta AP Fonden Cuts Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden cut its Western Digital stake by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 35,100 shares and leaving it with 169,300 shares valued at about $29.2 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 92.51% of Western Digital’s stock, and several large investors recently making major new or expanded bets.
• Analysts are increasingly bullish on WDC after strong earnings and margin improvement, with the company beating quarterly estimates and several firms raising price targets; Western Digital also boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share.

Forsta AP Fonden lowered its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 17.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 35,100 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Western Digital were worth $29,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don't Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company'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 sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 54,405 shares of company stock worth $18,575,428 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $531.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $396.29 and a 200 day moving average of $281.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $553.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm'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 earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

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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