Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Buys Shares of 66,193 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management initiated a new position in Western Digital, buying 66,193 shares in the fourth quarter worth about $11.4 million.
• Western Digital continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with hedge funds and asset managers owning 92.51% of the stock. Several other institutions also increased their stakes during the quarter.
• Analysts remain constructive on the name: the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a target price of $413.50, while the company also reported strong quarterly results and raised its dividend.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 66,193 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $11,403,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 889 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,113 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of the business's 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 approximately $63,221,431.91. This trade represents a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 54,405 shares of company stock worth $18,575,428 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.50.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $396.29 and a 200-day moving average of $281.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $553.50. The company has a market capitalization of $183.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders 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 dividend 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 presently 2.99%.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don't Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. 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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