Permit Capital LLC Trims Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Permit Capital LLC cut its Western Digital stake by 20% in the fourth quarter, selling 20,000 shares and leaving it with 80,000 shares worth about $13.8 million. Western Digital remained the fund’s fourth-largest holding.
• Western Digital posted stronger-than-expected results, with quarterly EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion versus $3.25 billion expected. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with multiple firms reiterating or upgrading ratings and price targets, including Evercore’s $575 target and Bank of America’s $495 target. MarketBeat data shows an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $424.33.

Permit Capital LLC trimmed its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 20.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,000 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Western Digital comprises about 4.3% of Permit Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Permit Capital LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $13,782,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA increased its stake in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 100.0% during the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 312 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $511.72 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $176.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $422.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $295.71. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $54.60 and a one year high of $602.54.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $424.33.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from strong investor enthusiasm around AI-driven storage demand, with recent articles highlighting new AI-focused storage technologies, improved analyst valuation estimates, and expectations for firmer HDD and memory pricing. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, helping push the stock to fresh highs as investors positioned ahead of the company’s Computex-related AI announcements. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
• Positive Sentiment: The company has also been cleaning up its balance sheet and making more AI-related moves, which some investors view as supporting additional upside. Western Digital Could Be Halfway Through Retiring 2028 Convertible Debt. What It Means for the Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings were strong, with the company beating estimates and issuing upbeat guidance, but the stock still saw a short-term dip as some traders appeared to take profits after a big run. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips 3% Despite Strong Earnings—Should Investors Buy the Pullback?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that the broader market and semiconductor stocks have been choppy, with Broadcom’s cautious AI outlook pressuring memory names like Western Digital even after the company’s strong news flow. MU, SNDK, WDC: Memory Stocks Dip As Broadcom’s Forecast Dampens AI Sentiment, Retail Turns Buyer
• Negative Sentiment: One near-term headwind is profit-taking after Western Digital’s rapid run-up to all-time highs, which has led to some price weakness despite the longer-term bullish narrative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital 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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