Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Cuts Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Lecap Asset Management Ltd. cut its stake in Western Digital by 75.8% in Q4, selling 15,666 shares and leaving 5,008 shares valued at $863,000.
• Western Digital beat Q4 estimates with EPS $2.13 (vs. $1.93) and $3.02B revenue (up 25.2% y/y), and has announced dividends, buybacks and multi‑year AI storage commitments supporting earnings momentum.
• Analysts have raised targets (Bank of America to $415, JPMorgan to $400) yielding a consensus "Moderate Buy" average target of $304.29, while insiders sold ~92,795 shares (~$24.3M) and institutional ownership is 92.51%.

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lowered its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 75.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,008 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 15,666 shares during the quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $372.52 on Monday. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $293.17 and its 200-day moving average is $217.26. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $35.51 and a 1 year high of $378.98. The stock has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a PE ratio of 37.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company 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 firm's revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is 5.02%.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its WDC price target to $415 and assigned a "buy" rating, signaling increased analyst conviction and implying further upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $400 and moved to "overweight," another institutional upgrade supporting the rally and likely attracting more buyer interest. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals and earnings momentum — WDC has a recent track record of beats and raised guidance drivers (high-capacity/HAMR drives, manufacturing productivity). Analysts and outlets highlight the company as positioned to beat again, which supports valuation multiple expansion. Will Western Digital (WDC) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: WDC reported multi‑year AI storage commitments from large customers, boosted its dividend by 25% and announced meaningful buybacks — all shareholder‑friendly actions that underpin investor confidence in continued demand from AI workloads. Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 7.7% After Securing Multi‑Year AI Storage Commitments And Boosting Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Broader market strength (Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq gains and new highs) is lifting cyclical and growth names, providing tailwinds for WDC’s share price. Dow jumps 800 points, S&P 500 at new record, Nasdaq gains 6.8% this week
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage notes WDC hitting record highs and strong institutional buying, but also documents insider selling activity — the market reaction so far shows buyers outweighing internal selling, so this is mixed for near‑term direction. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges to Record Peak Despite Insider Sales Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Retail SSD price cuts (example: WD Blue SN5100 markdown) could signal near‑term ASP pressure in consumer channels and tighter margins if competition forces broader discounting. WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD drops to $324.61 in latest price cut

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $375.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Mizuho increased their price target on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. UBS Group set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $304.29.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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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