Swedbank AB Lowers Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Swedbank AB trimmed its stake in Western Digital by 2.0%, selling 4,462 shares to finish Q4 with 224,315 shares worth about $38.6M, and institutional investors now own roughly 92.51% of WDC.
• WDC beat expectations—it reported $2.72 EPS vs. $2.39 expected and $3.34B revenue (up 45.5% YoY), set Q4 2026 guidance of $3.10–3.40 EPS, analysts are raising price targets, and the company increased its quarterly dividend 20% to $0.15.
• Insider selling is notable: CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for about $8.24M, and insiders have sold 53,679 shares (~$18.0M) over the last three months, which could weigh on near-term sentiment.

Swedbank AB lowered its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,315 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 4,462 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $38,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 751,202 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $141,001,000 after purchasing an additional 46,072 shares in the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $942,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Western Digital by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 96,743 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $16,666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,296 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 137.9% in the fourth quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 5,443 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 3,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning raised its stake in Western Digital by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 2,116 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $463.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $159.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $43.88 and a one year high of $483.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $325.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.15 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded WDC from "hold" to "strong-buy," adding momentum from a well-known retail analyst house that can attract buy-side interest. Zacks.com
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are lifting price targets and estimates on strong AI-driven storage demand (BofA raised its PT to $572), supporting higher forward earnings expectations. BofA Lifts PT on Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital increased its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.15, signaling confidence in cash flow and appealing to income-focused investors. Western Digital Just Increased Its Dividend by 20%
• Positive Sentiment: Broader coverage notes rising earnings estimates and positive momentum signals (Zacks/other outlets), reinforcing the bull case built on AI/data-center demand. Earnings Estimates Rising for Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: WD has started equity-for-equity exchanges to unwind its remaining SanDisk stake — a structural simplification that could unlock value over time but is a multi-step process. Western Digital Share Swap Highlights Separation Progress
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector pieces (e.g., on SanDisk and smartphone memory supply) are shaping sentiment across storage names; these are background drivers rather than WDC-specific catalysts. Boom or Bubble? Here's Where Sandisk Stock Could Be
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling has become visible: executives reportedly sold more than $10M recently and CEO Irving Tan sold shares, which can fuel short-term profit-taking and weigh on sentiment. Executives Unload $10M+
• Negative Sentiment: Despite fresh target raises, the stock has seen intraday slips—likely reflecting profit-taking after a strong run and heightened valuation concerns. WDC Slips as Analysts Raise Price Targets

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $395.83.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WDC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report).

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.