MidFirst Bank Buys New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• MidFirst Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in Western Digital, buying 1,416 shares valued at about $244,000. Several other institutional investors also added to or initiated stakes, and hedge funds now own the vast majority of the stock.
• Western Digital is benefiting from strong AI data center and cloud storage demand, with headlines noting rising investor confidence and nearly doubled earnings. Analysts have responded by raising price targets and upgrading ratings, including Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings estimates, reporting $2.72 EPS on $3.34 billion in revenue, and it also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share. Despite some insider selling, Western Digital’s outlook remains supported by upbeat analyst sentiment and stronger industry pricing conditions.

MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,416 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $645,000. Amanah Holdings Trust acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,265,000. Stone Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,010,000. Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $649,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $68,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from surging demand tied to AI data centers and cloud storage, which is boosting investor confidence in the company’s earnings outlook. Western Digital stock surges on AI demand; Morgan Stanley bullish on WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its view on WDC, reinforcing the idea that the stock still has room to run after the recent rally. Morgan Stanley Raises Price Target on Western Digital (WDC). Here is Why
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s earnings were said to nearly double on strong AI and cloud demand, which supports the recent move up in the shares. Western Digital Earnings Nearly Double on AI, Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s comments about unavoidable memory price hikes helped lift the broader memory/storage group, including WDC, by improving the pricing backdrop for the industry. SanDisk Jumps 11%, Western Digital Rises 7% After Apple Flags “Unavoidable” Memory Price Hikes

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $746.23 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $58.66 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $487.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.32. The company has a market cap of $257.21 billion, a PE ratio of 44.55 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 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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