RD Finance Ltd Buys New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• RD Finance Ltd acquired 10,405 Western Digital shares worth approximately $4.7 million in the third quarter, making WDC its 10th-largest holding and representing 4.4% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with earnings per share of $4.64 beating estimates by $0.53 and revenue rising 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. The company also increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share.
• Investor sentiment remains broadly positive amid expectations for AI-driven storage demand and improved pricing; analysts assign WDC a “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $591.04, though some firms have issued more cautious hold ratings.

RD Finance Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,405 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,729,000. Western Digital makes up approximately 4.4% of RD Finance Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $147,275,000 after acquiring an additional 96,078 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $19,694,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,466,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,599,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: A Bank of America note said memory customers are locking in supply for multiple years, lifting the broader memory and storage group. Western Digital benefited alongside Micron and SanDisk as investors anticipated stronger pricing and demand. Bank of America memory-market article
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said AI-related storage demand could grow about 25% annually and expressed confidence that the company can expand margins despite data-center cost concerns. Western Digital CEO AI-demand article
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its quarterly dividend by 16.7% following strong fiscal first-quarter results, reinforcing the case for improving cash generation. Western Digital dividend increase article
• Positive Sentiment: Argus maintained a Buy rating despite lowering its price target to $500, while several bullish analyses cited strong earnings, robust cloud demand and favorable storage pricing. Argus Western Digital rating

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $356.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $133.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $121.85 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $429.95 and a 200-day moving average of $413.05.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 55.62%. The company's revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 2.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $540.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Summit Insights cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $625.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $591.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,392,640. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.