Resolute Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Resolute Advisors LLC initiated a 12,300-share position in Western Digital valued at approximately $7.9 million, making WDC its ninth-largest holding. Institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Analysts maintain a generally bullish outlook, with an overall “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $534.56; several firms recently raised their targets as high as $900.
• Western Digital exceeded quarterly expectations with adjusted earnings of $3.56 per share and $3.75 billion in revenue, up 43.8% year over year. The company also guided to $3.85–$4.15 in EPS for the next quarter and declared a $0.15 quarterly dividend.

Resolute Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 12,300 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,856,000. Western Digital makes up about 1.9% of Resolute Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,602,927,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, Anther Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $901,601,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade 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 90 days, insiders sold 23,642 shares of company stock worth $10,676,659. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $450.44 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average is $516.94 and its 200 day moving average is $443.28. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $77.90 and a one year high of $799.87. The firm has a market cap of $155.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

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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