Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Victory Capital reduced its stake in Western Digital by 17.7% in Q3 and now owns 576,829 shares worth about $69.25 million, while institutional ownership of the stock sits at roughly 92.5%.
• Western Digital beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $2.13 (vs. $1.93 expected) and revenue of $3.02 billion (+25.2% year‑over‑year), reporting strong margins and an analyst forecast of 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive—MarketBeat shows a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $265.58 and several firms issuing Buy/Outperform ratings (top targets cited up to $325).

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 17.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 576,829 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 123,731 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of Western Digital worth $69,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $641,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $636,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% in the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $7,594,000 after buying an additional 7,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 234,245 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $28,123,000 after purchasing an additional 61,166 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $259.03 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $309.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $87.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $245.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.68.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. Western Digital's revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 84,277 shares of company stock worth $22,091,068 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC completed its flash spin‑off, sold a $3.1B stake, and signed long‑term hyperscaler deals that fully book HDD capacity through at least 2028 — gives multi‑year revenue visibility and supports demand for nearline HDDs. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future With Hyperscaler AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/investor commentary highlights a re‑rating opportunity as AI video and cloud workloads boost storage needs; several firms maintain Overweight/Buy ratings and capacity sells‑out for 2026. 3 Red Hot AI Stocks Sporting Favorable Zacks Ranks
• Positive Sentiment: Management and bullish analysis point to materially higher near‑term margins and growth (sold‑out 2026 capacity, guidance implying strong Y/Y revenue and elevated gross margins), and the company has refined its capital structure (senior note redemptions). Western Digital: AI's Unsung Storage Backbone
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail pricing oddity: a 2TB WD SN850X SSD is being sold cheaper than a 1TB model at Walmart — signals consumer flash pricing noise but limited direct impact on WDC’s newly separated HDD focus. This 2TB WD SN850X is cheaper from Walmart than the equivalent 1TB model
• Neutral Sentiment: Market coverage contrasts WDC with Seagate after recent volatility; both stocks rebounded from a sector sell‑off — useful context but not a direct catalyst. Western Digital vs Seagate After the Sell-Off
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation/cycle warnings: some analysts and commentaries flag that recent price gains may reflect a cyclical peak risk — high valuation multiples could leave the stock vulnerable if HDD cycle slows. Western Digital: Strong AI Tailwinds, But Valuation Signals Cyclical Peak Risk
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling continues: recent SEC filings show senior executives sold material stakes (multi‑million dollar sales), which can be read negatively by the market even if sales are for diversification/liquidity. Insider Sale Filing (Vidyadhara K. Gubbi)

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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