SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Buys 3,155 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• SBI Securities boosted its stake in Western Digital by 137.9% in Q4, buying 3,155 shares to hold 5,443 shares worth about $938,000.
• Heavy institutional accumulation and analyst optimism: major funds (WCM, Fred Alger, Soroban, Polar, AQR) added large positions, institutional ownership stands at 92.51%, and analysts have lifted price targets up to $500 with a consensus "Moderate Buy" and a ~$395.83 target.
• Fundamentals and corporate moves show momentum—Western Digital beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. $2.39) with revenue up 45.5%, raised the quarterly dividend to $0.15, and set Q4 guidance of 3.10–3.40 EPS, though insiders (including CEO Irving Tan) have recently sold shares.

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 137.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,443 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 3,155 shares during the quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 175.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are lifting forecasts and price targets on stronger AI/data‑center storage demand; BofA and others raised targets and earnings estimates, supporting higher valuation expectations. BofA Lifts PT on Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upward guidance momentum: recent earnings beats and upward EPS guidance revisions have prompted estimate upgrades from research shops (Zacks, others), underpinning bullish sentiment. Earnings Estimates Rising for WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase: WDC raised its quarterly payout to $0.15 (20% hike), signaling confidence and attracting yield‑sensitive and income‑plus‑growth investors, though yield remains small. Western Digital Dividend Increase
• Positive Sentiment: Share-swap to unwind SanDisk stake: WDC is exchanging Sandisk shares for WDC stock as it exits the remaining Sandisk position — a move that simplifies capital structure and may increase WDC’s pure‑play valuation. Western Digital Share Swap
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector supply dynamics: reporting suggests AI-driven memory tightness could keep pricing elevated (benefit to margins), while some consumer SSD discounts appear episodic — supportive but mixed for near‑term revenue mix. AI and Memory Prices
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior executives, including CEO Irving Tan and other officers, have sold shares recently (pre‑arranged plans and filings). Markets often view sizeable or clustered insider sales as a negative near term catalyst. Irving Tan Share Sale

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 120,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 3.24% 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 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target 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. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Down 4.0%

WDC opened at $463.91 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $159.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $43.88 and a 12 month high of $483.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $325.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during 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 revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.99%.

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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