New York State Teachers Retirement System Raises Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 288,401 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 34,369 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Western Digital worth $49,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.74.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat expectations: Q3 EPS $2.72 and revenue $3.34B, both above consensus, and management raised FY‑Q4 guidance (EPS and revenue) — this underpins the bullish case for continued AI/cloud storage demand. Earnings & press materials
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades/target raises followed the quarter — Citi hiked its target to $500 (Buy) citing stronger visibility into AI-driven HDD demand, lifting investor optimism. Citi raises target to $500
• Positive Sentiment: Other firms (Rosenblatt, TD Cowen and others) boosted targets or reiterated Buy as AI/data‑center demand drives margin expansion and share‑buyback capacity; the company also announced a quarterly dividend increase, signalling confidence in cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry signal — peers (SanDisk/Seagate) also reported strong results and demand commentary, confirming sector‑wide AI storage tailwinds but raising questions about how much of that is already priced in. Reuters: sector demand
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction was mixed — the stock slipped after the beat as some traders engaged in “buy the rumor, sell the news” profit‑taking following an enormous YTD run; elevated expectations mean strong results may not produce further immediate upside. Yahoo: stock falls despite beat
• Negative Sentiment: Not all analyst moves are bullish: UBS raised its target to $375 but kept a Neutral rating — that level implies downside from current prices and provides a near‑term anchor for traders focused on risk management. Benzinga: UBS target

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $432.03 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $314.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.60 and a 12 month high of $446.62. The company has a market cap of $146.48 billion, a PE ratio of 43.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 49.24%. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 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 given a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

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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