Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires 5,765 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Private Advisor Group LLC increased its Western Digital stake by 164.1% in the first quarter, buying 5,765 additional shares and bringing its total to 9,278 shares worth about $2.51 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors controlling 92.51% of Western Digital’s stock, while several firms including Norges Bank and Fred Alger also expanded positions significantly.
• Analysts are broadly bullish on WDC, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus; the company also posted strong quarterly results with EPS and revenue both beating estimates.

Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 164.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,278 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,765 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,231,477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $502.12.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $578.05 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $552.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $371.36. The company has a market cap of $199.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $64.23 and a twelve month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (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 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 posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory and storage shares rebounded sharply, lifting Western Digital along with peers like Micron, Seagate, and SanDisk as the recent selloff reversed and sentiment improved across the sector. Western Digital and Seagate Surge 7%, Micron and Sandisk Climb 6% as Memory Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s announced $250 billion investment and the broader AI infrastructure trade are boosting confidence in storage and semiconductor names, with Western Digital viewed as a beneficiary of rising data center and memory demand. Western Digital Stock Lifts Following Micron's $250 Billion Investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on WDC, citing stronger revenue growth, margin expansion, upbeat guidance, and improving visibility in AI-related storage demand. Micron & One AI Infrastructure Stock to Buy Now for Big Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital is accelerating its HAMR roadmap and signing long-term customer deals to meet AI-driven storage demand, which supports the growth story but is still a longer-term catalyst. Will Western Digital's HAMR Push Accelerate Future Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its price target on WDC to $500 while keeping a neutral rating, reinforcing that Wall Street sees value but is not uniformly bullish at current levels. Western Digital NASDAQ: WDC Price Target Raised to $500.00 at Susquehanna
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent coverage flags valuation risk, noting the stock has already had a huge run and may be expensive on earnings despite optimistic AI-storage expectations. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings

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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