NewEdge Wealth LLC Increases Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its Western Digital stake by 111.1% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 16,526 shares and lifting its holdings to 31,397 shares valued at about $5.4 million.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates and posting 45.5% year-over-year revenue growth. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13.
• Analysts remain bullish on WDC, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock benefiting from optimism around AI-driven memory and data-center storage demand.

NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 111.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,397 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,526 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% in the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $480.09 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.88 and a 12 month high of $483.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.48 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 2.10. The business's fifty day moving average price is $325.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $242.16.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company'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 in the company, valued at $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction 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 $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WDC. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $395.83.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain upbeat on Western Digital, with firms lifting price targets and Zacks upgrading the stock to Strong Buy, signaling rising confidence in demand trends and earnings momentum. Zacks Research upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage is highlighting Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI memory and data-center storage supercycle, with demand for high-capacity storage solutions expected to stay elevated. Motley Fool article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings beat, raised guidance, and multiple target increases from analysts continue to support the stock’s sharp year-to-date gain and keep momentum investors engaged. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital also announced progress on simplifying its structure by unwinding its remaining Sandisk stake through share swaps and future distributions, which may help investors better value WDC as a more focused storage pure play. Yahoo Finance share swap article

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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