J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. reduced its Western Digital stake by 23.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,775 shares and leaving it with 12,190 shares valued at about $2.1 million.
• Other institutional investors were mostly adding to their positions, and 92.51% of Western Digital’s stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Wall Street remains bullish on Western Digital, with several analysts raising price targets; the stock currently carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $424.33.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,190 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,775 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prudential PLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 6,909 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 8,575 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 45.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 86,613 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $14,921,000 after purchasing an additional 27,156 shares during the last quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 53.8% in the 4th quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,444 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 140,547 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $24,212,000 after purchasing an additional 16,899 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $424.33.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from strong investor enthusiasm around AI-driven storage demand, with recent articles highlighting new AI-focused storage technologies, improved analyst valuation estimates, and expectations for firmer HDD and memory pricing. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, helping push the stock to fresh highs as investors positioned ahead of the company’s Computex-related AI announcements. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
• Positive Sentiment: The company has also been cleaning up its balance sheet and making more AI-related moves, which some investors view as supporting additional upside. Western Digital Could Be Halfway Through Retiring 2028 Convertible Debt. What It Means for the Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings were strong, with the company beating estimates and issuing upbeat guidance, but the stock still saw a short-term dip as some traders appeared to take profits after a big run. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips 3% Despite Strong Earnings—Should Investors Buy the Pullback?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that the broader market and semiconductor stocks have been choppy, with Broadcom’s cautious AI outlook pressuring memory names like Western Digital even after the company’s strong news flow. MU, SNDK, WDC: Memory Stocks Dip As Broadcom’s Forecast Dampens AI Sentiment, Retail Turns Buyer
• Negative Sentiment: One near-term headwind is profit-taking after Western Digital’s rapid run-up to all-time highs, which has led to some price weakness despite the longer-term bullish narrative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $511.72 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $422.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $295.71. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.60 and a 12-month high of $602.54. The stock has a market cap of $176.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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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