Tredje AP fonden Buys 205,819 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Tredje AP fonden dramatically increased its Western Digital stake by 554.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 205,819 additional shares to bring its total to 242,929 shares worth about $41.8 million.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 beating expectations and revenue of $3.34 billion topping estimates, while year-over-year revenue rose 45.5%.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, and analysts remain broadly constructive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a target price around $395.83.

Tredje AP fonden lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 554.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 242,929 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 205,819 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden owned approximately 0.07% of Western Digital worth $41,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 4.8%

WDC opened at $458.68 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.10 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $356.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.04. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.00 and a 52 week high of $525.15.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm'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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital unveiled post-quantum cryptography-enabled Ultrastar UltraSMR hard drives, highlighting its push into next-generation, AI-era infrastructure security and potentially expanding enterprise demand. WD Advances Next-Generation Trusted Infrastructure with Industry’s First Post-Quantum Cryptography Hard Drives to Help Secure the Future of AI Data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports about AI storage demand suggest Western Digital and Seagate are benefiting from tighter supply and better pricing power in mass-capacity drives, which is supportive for revenue and margins. Seagate and Western Digital: AI Storage Demand Is Now Showing Up in Pricing Power
• Positive Sentiment: Broader coverage of the AI memory/storage boom is drawing investor attention to Western Digital as one of the names positioned to benefit from infrastructure spending. Memory Chip Stocks to Watch: Micron (MU), SK Hynix, and Western Digital Lead AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, but this is a supportive backdrop rather than a fresh catalyst. Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles on Micron and SanDisk largely reinforce the same industry theme: AI demand is improving the outlook for memory and storage suppliers, but they do not appear to be direct company-specific catalysts for Western Digital. Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today? Why Did Sandisk Stock Drop Today?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $395.83.

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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