Hsbc Holdings PLC Decreases Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its Western Digital stake by 32.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 611,777 shares and ending with 1,267,785 shares valued at about $218.1 million.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 versus estimates of $2.39 and revenue of $3.34 billion versus expectations of $3.25 billion. Revenue rose 45.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish on WDC, with an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $450.46. The company also recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.12.

Hsbc Holdings PLC trimmed its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 32.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,267,785 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 611,777 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.37% of Western Digital worth $218,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $746.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $257.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.55 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $58.66 and a one year high of $799.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $487.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $327.17.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $450.46.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from surging demand tied to AI data centers and cloud storage, which is boosting investor confidence in the company’s earnings outlook. Western Digital stock surges on AI demand; Morgan Stanley bullish on WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its view on WDC, reinforcing the idea that the stock still has room to run after the recent rally. Morgan Stanley Raises Price Target on Western Digital (WDC). Here is Why
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s earnings were said to nearly double on strong AI and cloud demand, which supports the recent move up in the shares. Western Digital Earnings Nearly Double on AI, Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s comments about unavoidable memory price hikes helped lift the broader memory/storage group, including WDC, by improving the pricing backdrop for the industry. SanDisk Jumps 11%, Western Digital Rises 7% After Apple Flags “Unavoidable” Memory Price Hikes

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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