Wealthstar Advisors LLC Invests $1.78 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Wealthstar Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during Q1, acquiring 6,567 shares worth about $1.78 million. The stake makes WDC about 0.8% of the firm’s holdings and its 24th largest position.
• Western Digital has seen strong analyst support, with several firms raising price targets and maintaining overweight/buy ratings. The consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average target price of $493.52.
• The company recently beat earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.72 EPS on $3.34 billion in revenue and raising its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share. Despite that, insiders have been selling shares, including notable sales by a director and an executive.

Wealthstar Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,567 shares of the data storage provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,776,000. Western Digital accounts for about 0.8% of Wealthstar Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth increased its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. BOKF NA raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $493.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $539.00 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $63.67 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $539.71 and a 200-day moving average of $359.19. The stock has a market cap of $185.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during 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%. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

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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