Wealthfront Advisers LLC Acquires 6,824 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 25.7% in Q4, acquiring 6,824 shares to hold 33,346 shares worth about $5.745 million.
• Western Digital reported strong results and raised guidance (Q3 revenue/EPS beat and upgraded FY/Q4 outlook), the company boosted its quarterly dividend 20%, and analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of about $340.91.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently (92,711 shares sold, ~$24.3M in the last three months) amid a large YTD run and increased volatility risk, while institutional investors own roughly 92.51% of the stock.

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 25.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,346 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,824 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 worth $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position 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 valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Argus set a $300.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $340.91.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and strong top-line — Western Digital reported Q3 revenue of $3.34B (up ~45% YoY) and EPS of $2.72, comfortably above estimates; investors are treating the results as confirmation of robust AI/cloud demand. MarketBeat: WDC Q3 results
• Positive Sentiment: Raised FY/Q4 outlook — Management issued stronger-than-expected guidance (Q4 EPS range and revenue guidance above Street estimates), signaling continued pricing power and demand visibility into enterprise/AI builds. MarketBeat: Guidance & slides
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and peers validate AI-driven thesis — Analysts have raised targets (TD Cowen referenced) and Seagate/Sandisk results reinforce that hyperscaler AI demand is broad-based, supporting higher nearline capacity utilization and pricing. Blockonomi: WDC surge & analyst moves
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase — Western Digital raised its quarterly dividend by 20% to $0.15 per share (annualized yield remains small), a sign of confidence in cash flow and capital allocation.
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call/transcript available — Management commentary and the transcript highlight margin expansion and allocation plans (slides and Q&A detail capex, supply constraints, and customer commitments). Useful for investors who want guidance color. Seeking Alpha: WDC Q3 call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and "sell the news" dynamics — Despite the beat, the stock has seen intraday pullbacks as investors locked gains after WDC’s large YTD run; some coverage points to the memory trade overheating and short-term rotation risk. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Volatility risk vs. high expectations — Coverage notes WDC has surged heavily (~many multiples YTD), so even strong beats can trigger outsized moves lower if forward cadence or demand cadence disappoints. Yahoo Finance: WDC falls despite topping Q3

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total value of $2,174,815.76. Following the sale, the insider owned 99,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,347,148.32. The trade was a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 5.3%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $434.52 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $314.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $233.19. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.60 and a 1-year high of $441.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a PE ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

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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