Norges Bank Invests $788.73 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Norges Bank opened a large new position in Western Digital, buying 4,578,446 shares valued at about $788.7 million and ending the quarter with roughly 1.35% ownership.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping expectations; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on the stock, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating at Moderate Buy with an average target price of $413.50.

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,578,446 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $788,729,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.35% of Western Digital at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $982,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Western Digital by 267.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,705,000. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,112 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total value of $115,480.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 117,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $63,221,431.91. The trade was a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,405 shares of company stock worth $18,575,428 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.50.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $553.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.03.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business 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%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.99%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don't Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

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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