Patton Fund Management Inc. Trims Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Patton Fund Management cut its Western Digital stake by 63.3% in Q1, selling 18,875 shares and leaving it with 10,953 shares valued at about $2.96 million.
• Western Digital reported better-than-expected fiscal Q4 results, with EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, while analysts remain broadly constructive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $450.46.

Patton Fund Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 63.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,953 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 18,875 shares during the quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second 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 during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $586.45 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $62.65 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $202.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 2.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $518.00 and a 200-day moving average of $345.86.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for 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 company's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s strong quarterly results reinforced the AI-driven memory shortage theme, which has lifted Western Digital along with other memory stocks. Western Digital Stock And Seagate Get Boost From Big Micron Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight strong AI memory demand, rising estimate revisions, and favorable supply-demand dynamics for WDC. Micron's Robust Q3 Results Raise Investor Attention on These 3 Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of SK Hynix planning a Nasdaq listing on July 10 add more attention to the broader memory ecosystem, but the direct impact on WDC is unclear. Is the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) a Buy Before July 10?
• Negative Sentiment: After the sector’s big rally, memory and semiconductor stocks are pulling back as investors take profits and worry that memory and storage costs may have gotten ahead of fundamentals. MU, SNDK, WDC: 3 Key Reasons Why Memory Stocks Are Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech-sector weakness is weighing on WDC alongside other chip names, adding to the selloff in the group. Semiconductor stocks retreat over worries about memory costs

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $450.46.

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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