Intech Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Intech Investment Management increased its Western Digital stake by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, adding 14,146 shares to bring its total to 129,293 shares worth about $22.3 million.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 versus the $2.39 estimate and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year.
• Analysts remain generally constructive on the stock, with several firms raising targets and the company recently boosting its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13.

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,293 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 14,146 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $22,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in 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 worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total transaction of $115,480.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at $63,221,431.91. This trade represents a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WDC. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.18 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $553.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $391.76 and its 200 day moving average is $279.27. The stock 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

About Western Digital

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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