Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $5.61 Million Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Sterling Capital Management cut its Western Digital stake by 27.6% in the first quarter, selling 7,915 shares and leaving it with 20,747 shares valued at about $5.61 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 92.51% of Western Digital shares. Several large investors recently added to or established positions, including Norges Bank and Northern Trust.
• Western Digital has benefited from AI-driven memory demand and favorable analyst sentiment, but the stock has also faced recent pullbacks as investors take profits and worry valuations may have run ahead of fundamentals.

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 27.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,747 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 7,915 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s strong quarterly results reinforced the AI-driven memory shortage theme, which has lifted Western Digital along with other memory stocks. Western Digital Stock And Seagate Get Boost From Big Micron Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight strong AI memory demand, rising estimate revisions, and favorable supply-demand dynamics for WDC. Micron's Robust Q3 Results Raise Investor Attention on These 3 Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports of SK Hynix planning a Nasdaq listing on July 10 add more attention to the broader memory ecosystem, but the direct impact on WDC is unclear. Is the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) a Buy Before July 10?
• Negative Sentiment: After the sector’s big rally, memory and semiconductor stocks are pulling back as investors take profits and worry that memory and storage costs may have gotten ahead of fundamentals. MU, SNDK, WDC: 3 Key Reasons Why Memory Stocks Are Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech-sector weakness is weighing on WDC alongside other chip names, adding to the selloff in the group. Semiconductor stocks retreat over worries about memory costs

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Trading Down 13.2%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $586.45 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $518.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $344.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $62.65 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.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 prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

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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