Western Digital Corporation $WDC Position Cut by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 94.3%, owning only 7,163 shares valued at $290,000 after selling 118,723 shares in the first quarter.
• Insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares for over $1 million, reducing her ownership by 9.41%, while SVP Gene M. Zamiska also sold shares worth approximately $239,000.
• Analysts have adjusted Western Digital's price targets, with UBS Group raising it from $45 to $75 and Bank of America from $62 to $71, showcasing a generally positive outlook for the stock.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 94.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,163 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 118,723 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Western Digital by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,431 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,695,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 101.9% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 8,743 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 4,412 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 38,969 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 13,604 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $811,000 after acquiring an additional 2,309 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.8%

WDC traded up $4.73 during trading on Monday, hitting $102.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,520,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,266,723. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $77.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.69. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $103.78. The stock has a market cap of $35.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. 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 payout ratio is 7.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $53.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.