GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners purchased 2,811 Western Digital shares worth approximately $1.8 million in the second quarter. Hedge funds and institutional investors own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital reported quarterly EPS of $3.56 versus the $3.31 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $534.56.
• Insiders have been selling shares: CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for about $8.9 million under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, and insiders sold roughly $11.7 million of stock over the past 90 days.

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,811 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,795,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $508.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $73.14 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The firm's 50-day moving average is $556.33 and its 200 day moving average is $426.77. The stock has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital's revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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