Geode Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Geode Capital Management trimmed its Western Digital stake by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, but it still held 9.28 million shares valued at about $1.59 billion.
• Western Digital is benefiting from strong AI infrastructure demand and a “memory melt-up” narrative, with analysts highlighting improving pricing and data-center storage demand. Several firms have recently raised price targets, including estimates as high as $575.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 on revenue of $3.34 billion, and it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share. Western Digital also issued upbeat Q4 2026 guidance and continues to see strong analyst support overall.

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,282,432 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 132,086 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.74% of Western Digital worth $1,593,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is being viewed as a key beneficiary of surging AI infrastructure spending, with multiple reports citing stronger data-center storage demand and improving pricing conditions for memory and hard drives. Western Digital Stock Investors Need to See This
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage around the “memory melt-up” continues to support the stock, as peers like Micron and SanDisk rally on the same supply-tight, AI-demand narrative that is also benefiting WDC. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target on Western Digital to $575 and called the stock “underappreciated,” pointing to HDD demand tied to AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital appointed former NVIDIA executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the company’s AI infrastructure credentials and signaling deeper alignment with the AI build-out theme. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and executed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a strong bearish signal. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles note the stock has become very extended after a sharp multi-month run, which could lead to volatility even though the fundamental backdrop remains supportive. Sandisk Stock’s 4,000% Rise Is Happening Too Fast to Keep Up With

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.50.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.18 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $391.76 and its 200 day moving average is $279.27. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $51.17 and a fifty-two week high of $553.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for 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%.Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital 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 transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital 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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