Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 23,945 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management acquired 23,945 Western Digital shares valued at approximately $6.5 million, while institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $520.32; recent targets range as high as $1,050.
• Western Digital reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, including 45.5% year-over-year revenue growth and $2.72 in EPS, and increased its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15 per share.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,945 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,477,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. SummitTX Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $4,749,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $162,000. Family Manage LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $297,000. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 75.2% in the 1st quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,517 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $519.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $66.51 and a one year high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $179.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $564.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $398.53.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip peers such as Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix were reported surging on continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure spending and tight memory supply, which can lift sentiment for Western Digital as well. Article: Why Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix Are Surging—And How to Play It
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Western Digital’s AI storage exposure and relatively stronger financial footing versus peers like Super Micro, reinforcing the stock’s appeal as an AI hardware play. Article: WDC vs. SMCI: Which AI Hardware Stock is the Smarter Investment Now?
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation piece argued that Western Digital still looks attractive on earnings and especially cheap on a cash-flow basis, suggesting the recent rally may have room to continue if AI demand remains strong. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: One report said Western Digital reentered merger-focused discussion, but it did not provide a concrete transaction update, so the near-term stock impact is unclear. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Reenters Merger Focus, Where Does Fair Value Sit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position reported, which does not appear to be a major driver of the stock today.

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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