Western Digital Corporation $WDC Holdings Trimmed by Seelaus Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Seelaus Asset Management LLC cut its Western Digital stake by 50.3% in the first quarter, selling 3,465 shares and leaving it with 3,420 shares worth about $925,000.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping forecasts; the company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15 per share.
• Wall Street sentiment remains mostly positive, with multiple firms lifting price targets to as high as $650 and analysts giving the stock a Moderate Buy consensus rating despite some recent insider selling and mixed near-term sentiment in the memory-chip sector.

Seelaus Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 50.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,420 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 3,465 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $2,270,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $793,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.4%

Western Digital stock opened at $550.30 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $548.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $368.57. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $64.16 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $189.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.85 and a beta of 2.11.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Research chatter turned more constructive after Melius Research was reported as bullish on Western Digital, reinforcing the view that the company is a beneficiary of AI storage demand. Melius Research is Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted strong fundamentals and valuation support, including comments that WDC looks inexpensive on cash flow, has beaten earnings recently, and continues to benefit from rising AI-related storage demand. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst expectations remain generally favorable, with multiple firms maintaining buy or outperform ratings and recent price targets clustered above current levels, including a fresh upgrade in target from Susquehanna. Western Digital had its price target raised by Susquehanna
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-wide headlines about the Nasdaq, Fed minutes, and broader tech rotation are adding noise to trading, but these are not specific to Western Digital’s fundamentals. Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Swings To Score A Win; Fed Minutes Show Split On Direction
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are still wary after the recent memory-chip selloff tied to Samsung results, which pressured WDC and peers earlier in the week and could keep sentiment choppy. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $502.12.

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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