Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC Sells 14,300 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Knollwood Investment Advisory slashed its Western Digital stake by 90.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 14,300 shares and leaving it with 1,575 shares worth about $271,000.
• Western Digital posted strong recent results, with quarterly EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue rising 45.5% year over year to $3.34 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Moderate Buy.” Recent headlines also highlighted AI storage momentum, a Sandisk share exchange, and a new $4 billion buyback plan.

Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC lessened its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 90.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,575 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 14,300 shares during the period. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. BOKF NA boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Western Digital from $530 to $650 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling more upside potential for the shares. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a Sandisk share exchange with institutional investors, a move that has been interpreted as supportive of the stock and part of a broader capital strategy. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital highlighted AI-focused storage innovation at Computex, reinforcing the market’s view that it is well positioned to benefit from data-center and AI infrastructure spending. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also pointed to strong free cash flow, a larger dividend, and a new $4 billion buyback plan, which supports the investment case by showing confidence in cash generation and shareholder returns. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has been outperforming the broader market over the past year, and brokerages still generally rate the stock a moderate buy, which supports sentiment but is more of a confirmation than a new catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One recent market note said WDC slipped with the broader market after a hotter-than-expected CPI report revived rate-hike concerns, showing that macro pressure can still weigh on the stock at times. Article Title

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $562.92 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $54.60 and a 52-week high of $602.54. The company has a market capitalization of $194.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $447.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $307.91.

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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. 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 note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $443.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital 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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