M&T Bank Corp Increases Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• M&T Bank raised its stake in Western Digital by 28.3%, adding 3,989 shares to hold 18,080 shares worth about $3.12 million at the end of the quarter.
• Western Digital beat estimates with $2.72 EPS (vs. $2.39) and $3.34B revenue (up 45.5% YoY), and analysts have an average price target of $395.83 with a "Moderate Buy" consensus.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.15 and has attracted bullish upgrades tied to AI/data‑center demand, but insiders sold roughly 53,679 shares in the past three months.

M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 28.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,080 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,989 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Avion Wealth lifted its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $463.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $325.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $242.16. The company has a market capitalization of $159.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.88 and a fifty-two week high of $483.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost 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 payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are lifting forecasts and price targets on stronger AI/data‑center storage demand; BofA and others raised targets and earnings estimates, supporting higher valuation expectations. BofA Lifts PT on Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upward guidance momentum: recent earnings beats and upward EPS guidance revisions have prompted estimate upgrades from research shops (Zacks, others), underpinning bullish sentiment. Earnings Estimates Rising for WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase: WDC raised its quarterly payout to $0.15 (20% hike), signaling confidence and attracting yield‑sensitive and income‑plus‑growth investors, though yield remains small. Western Digital Dividend Increase
• Positive Sentiment: Share-swap to unwind SanDisk stake: WDC is exchanging Sandisk shares for WDC stock as it exits the remaining Sandisk position — a move that simplifies capital structure and may increase WDC’s pure‑play valuation. Western Digital Share Swap
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector supply dynamics: reporting suggests AI-driven memory tightness could keep pricing elevated (benefit to margins), while some consumer SSD discounts appear episodic — supportive but mixed for near‑term revenue mix. AI and Memory Prices
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior executives, including CEO Irving Tan and other officers, have sold shares recently (pre‑arranged plans and filings). Markets often view sizeable or clustered insider sales as a negative near term catalyst. Irving Tan Share Sale

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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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