Kesler Norman & Wride LLC Purchases Shares of 2,661 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Kesler Norman & Wride LLC disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Western Digital, buying 2,661 shares valued at about $458,000.
• Western Digital continues to see strong institutional and analyst support, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating and $424.33 average target.
• The company posted a strong quarter with earnings and revenue beating estimates, raised its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share, and remains a beneficiary of the AI-driven storage demand story.

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,661 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $458,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth increased its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% 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 37,408 shares of company stock valued at $14,707,666 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $424.33.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital disclosed a privately negotiated exchange of convertible debt, helping reduce refinancing risk and signaling further progress in cleaning up its balance sheet. Investors appear to view the move as freeing up more flexibility for future AI-related investments. Western Digital Restructures Convertible Debt via Equity Exchange
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple recent articles highlighted Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI storage boom, with demand for memory and data storage rising across cloud, AI, IoT, and enterprise markets. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary this week also emphasized that Western Digital’s AI storage trade still has room to run, reinforcing bullish sentiment around the stock’s long-term growth story. Western Digital: The AI Storage Trade Still Has Room To Run
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s conference appearances kept the company in view, but the headlines did not point to a major new operating update or guidance change. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Presents at 2026 Evercore Global TMT Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Several writeups said Western Digital has strong momentum and all-time highs, but one article argued the stock may already be expensive after a huge run, which tempers the near-term upside case. Up 1,000% in the Past Year, It’s Too Late to Buy Western Digital Stock
• Negative Sentiment: An insider sale by Vidyadhara K. Gubbi was disclosed, which can slightly pressure sentiment even though the sale was small relative to the insider’s remaining holdings. SEC filing for insider sale

Western Digital Stock Up 5.5%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $594.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $204.78 billion, a PE ratio of 35.47 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $53.47 and a 12-month high of $602.54. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $412.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.30.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Western Digital Company 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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