North Dakota State Investment Board Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• North Dakota State Investment Board opened a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter, buying 19,019 shares worth about $3.28 million.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping expectations, while revenue rose 45.5% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share and continues to draw bullish analyst attention, with multiple firms boosting price targets and the stock holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating.

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,019 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,276,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Down 4.8%

Western Digital stock opened at $458.68 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.00 and a 12-month high of $525.15. The stock has a market cap of $158.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $356.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.04.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital unveiled post-quantum cryptography-enabled Ultrastar UltraSMR hard drives, highlighting its push into next-generation, AI-era infrastructure security and potentially expanding enterprise demand. WD Advances Next-Generation Trusted Infrastructure with Industry’s First Post-Quantum Cryptography Hard Drives to Help Secure the Future of AI Data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports about AI storage demand suggest Western Digital and Seagate are benefiting from tighter supply and better pricing power in mass-capacity drives, which is supportive for revenue and margins. Seagate and Western Digital: AI Storage Demand Is Now Showing Up in Pricing Power
• Positive Sentiment: Broader coverage of the AI memory/storage boom is drawing investor attention to Western Digital as one of the names positioned to benefit from infrastructure spending. Memory Chip Stocks to Watch: Micron (MU), SK Hynix, and Western Digital Lead AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, but this is a supportive backdrop rather than a fresh catalyst. Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles on Micron and SanDisk largely reinforce the same industry theme: AI demand is improving the outlook for memory and storage suppliers, but they do not appear to be direct company-specific catalysts for Western Digital. Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today? Why Did Sandisk Stock Drop Today?

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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