IPG Investment Advisors LLC Makes New $843,000 Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• IPG Investment Advisors LLC disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Western Digital, buying 4,894 shares valued at about $843,000.
• Western Digital reported a strong quarterly update, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping expectations. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share.
• Investor sentiment remains upbeat: several analysts have reiterated or upgraded bullish ratings, and the stock is benefiting from a broader AI-driven memory/storage demand rally. However, there have also been recent insider sales, though one was made under a pre-arranged trading plan.

IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,894 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total value of $115,480.82. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at $63,221,431.91. This represents a 0.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,655 shares of company stock worth $18,179,038 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $530.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.68 and a beta of 2.10. The firm's 50 day moving average is $387.41 and its 200 day moving average is $276.68. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $51.17 and a 12 month high of $546.68.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.50.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Shares are benefiting from a strong sector-wide “memory melt-up,” with AI infrastructure demand supporting higher pricing power and improving earnings expectations for storage makers like Western Digital. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital to $575, calling the stock “underappreciated” as hard disk drives remain critical for AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights Western Digital as a key beneficiary of the AI memory/storage supercycle, with investors searching the name more heavily after strong momentum in peers like Micron and SanDisk. Micron’s $1 Trillion Memory Melt-Up
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small relative to her holdings and was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, so it is unlikely to be a major negative signal for investors. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Another insider sale was also reported the same day, adding to activity that may look cautious, but the transactions appear routine rather than clearly bearish. SEC filing

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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