Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 62.7% in Q4 to 13,424 shares, valued at about $2.31 million.
• Western Digital beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.13 vs. $1.93; revenue $3.02B vs. $2.93B) and guided Q4 above consensus on strong enterprise AI storage demand, prompting several analysts to raise price targets (e.g., Barclays $405, Evercore $410, UBS $500) and a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with a $332 average target.
• Insiders sold roughly 92,711 shares (~$24.3M) over the last quarter and the stock’s sharp run-up (one‑year high $441.99) has increased short‑term volatility, even as the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15.

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 62.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,424 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 5,173 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $378.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 12th. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $332.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $434.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $314.33 and a 200 day moving average of $233.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $43.60 and a one year high of $441.99.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company's revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 (DPR) is 5.02%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. ~ $2.34–2.41) and reported revenue growth of ~45%, with conference materials and a slide deck available — results underpin the rally and justify re-rating on stronger profitability. MarketBeat Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q4 EPS to $3.10–3.40 and revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B, above consensus — signaling sustained pricing power from enterprise AI storage demand. Reuters: WDC forecasts revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Peer signals: SanDisk and Seagate also flagged strong AI-related demand and higher revenue outlooks, giving sector-level validation that hyperscaler capex is driving near-term HDD/SSD consumption. Reuters: SanDisk joins peers signaling AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum from Seagate’s blowout results lifted investor appetite for WDC ahead of and after the print — reinforcing a near-term “picks-and-shovels” trade into storage suppliers. 247WallSt: HDD trade lifts WDC & STX
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive (some raised price targets; institutional notes like Bank of America were bullish), but consensus estimates were elevated into the print — meaning future upside depends on execution and whether demand stays strong. Barchart: Analysts bullish ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upbeat guidance, some traders sold into the news — headlines and TV coverage called it a “buy the rumor, sell the news” episode after WDC’s large prior gains, producing intraday pullbacks. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Several outlets noted late-day slips and profit-taking after the print; elevated valuation and very large short- and long-term moves increase volatility risk for investors entering new positions now. Yahoo Finance: Stock slips late despite beat

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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