Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $1.71 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities opened a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter, buying 9,898 shares valued at about $1.71 million. The stake makes Western Digital its fourth-largest holding and about 2.7% of its portfolio.
• Western Digital continues to attract institutional and analyst support. Several other investors added to or initiated positions, while analysts issued multiple bullish calls, leaving the stock with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of $413.50.
• The company reported strong quarterly results and raised its dividend. Western Digital beat earnings and revenue estimates, lifted its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, and is being viewed as a beneficiary of AI-driven demand for data-center storage.

Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,898 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,705,000. Western Digital accounts for 2.7% of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. 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 note on Tuesday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.50.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $531.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $183.09 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $391.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.27. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $553.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is being viewed as a key beneficiary of surging AI infrastructure spending, with multiple reports citing stronger data-center storage demand and improving pricing conditions for memory and hard drives. Western Digital Stock Investors Need to See This
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage around the “memory melt-up” continues to support the stock, as peers like Micron and SanDisk rally on the same supply-tight, AI-demand narrative that is also benefiting WDC. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target on Western Digital to $575 and called the stock “underappreciated,” pointing to HDD demand tied to AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital appointed former NVIDIA executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the company’s AI infrastructure credentials and signaling deeper alignment with the AI build-out theme. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and executed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a strong bearish signal. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles note the stock has become very extended after a sharp multi-month run, which could lead to volatility even though the fundamental backdrop remains supportive. Sandisk Stock’s 4,000% Rise Is Happening Too Fast to Keep Up With

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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