Western Digital Corporation $WDC Position Boosted by Groupe la Francaise

Key Points

• Institutional ownership increased significantly: Groupe la Francaise raised its Western Digital stake by 25,480% to 7,674 shares, while institutional investors collectively own 92.51% of the company.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish: Western Digital has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $534.56, despite Citigroup lowering its target to $740.
• Strong quarterly performance: The company reported $3.56 in quarterly EPS, beating estimates of $3.31, while revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion. Western Digital also declared a $0.15 quarterly dividend.

Groupe la Francaise lifted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 25,480.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Western Digital by 64,424.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 338,388,746 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $216,135,660,000 after purchasing an additional 337,864,310 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $512,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Citigroup decreased their target price on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $467.46 on Tuesday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $502.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $448.16. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $91.43 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $161.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 23,210 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,960 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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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