VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Raises Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al nearly doubled its Western Digital stake in the fourth quarter, buying 147,094 more shares and bringing its total to 296,694 shares worth about $51.1 million.
• Western Digital continues to benefit from AI-driven storage demand and broader data-center spending, with market commentary pointing to strong hyperscaler demand and improving margins. Several analysts have kept bullish ratings on the stock, and the consensus view remains a Moderate Buy.
• The company posted a strong quarter, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue rising 45.5% year over year to $3.34 billion. Western Digital also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, though recent sector-wide profit-taking has pressured the stock.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 98.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 296,694 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 147,094 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned 0.09% of Western Digital worth $51,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage remains upbeat on Western Digital’s AI-driven storage demand, with analysts and market commentary pointing to strong hyperscaler spending, improving margins, and solid quarterly results as support for the long-term story.
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was highlighted as a beneficiary of the AI infrastructure buildout alongside Micron and SanDisk, reinforcing the view that demand for data-center storage remains strong. Why These 3 High-Flying Memory & Storage Stocks Will Rise Further
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings beat and higher dividend have kept sentiment positive, but much of that good news appears to already be reflected in the stock’s strong move higher. Reference to recent company results mentioned in market coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are falling alongside other memory names as traders rotate out of crowded winners, suggesting today’s decline is more about sector-wide profit-taking than a new company-specific problem. Western Digital falls as “memory supercycle” trade cools and investors lock in gains
• Negative Sentiment: A broader pullback hit the entire memory/storage complex, with SanDisk and Micron also under pressure, which can weigh on Western Digital near term if momentum investors continue reducing exposure. SanDisk and Micron Fall 9%, Western Digital Drops 8% as Memory Supercycle Trade Hits Pause Button

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% 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 firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $488.74 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.68 and a 1 year high of $525.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $338.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.06. The firm has a market cap of $168.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.18 and a beta of 2.10.

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 net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. The company's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 2.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WDC. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen upped their price target 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus 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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