Western Digital Corporation $WDC Position Cut by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management cut its Western Digital stake by 49.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 61,864 shares and leaving it with 63,644 shares worth about $11.4 million.
• Western Digital is drawing bullish analyst attention amid AI-driven storage demand, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating sitting at “Moderate Buy” with an average target around $450.46.
• The company reported strong results for its latest quarter, beating EPS and revenue estimates, while also increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 49.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 63,644 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 61,864 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $11,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. L2 Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $295,000. 71 West Capital Partners acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $330,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $257,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $275,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 60,987 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $10,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,228 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its outlook on Western Digital and boosted its price target, adding to the bullish case that AI data-center growth is driving stronger-than-expected storage demand. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here's Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say WDC is benefiting from a broader re-rating of AI storage stocks, with investors focused on tight hard-disk supply, sold-out inventory, and higher pricing power. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Media coverage highlighted a hyperscaler multiyear commitment to Western Digital, reinforcing confidence that demand from large cloud customers remains robust. Hyperscaler’s Multiyear Commitment with Western Digital (WDC) Highlights Robust Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching June 22 for the planned SanDisk-related swap, which could create another event-driven trading catalyst for WDC. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: One commentary piece argued the stock may be due for a near-term pullback after its huge run-up this year, suggesting valuation and momentum risks could cap gains in the short term. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $450.46.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.2%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $462.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $316.21. The firm has a market cap of $234.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $57.88 and a 52-week high of $729.92.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase 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 is presently 3.58%.

About Western Digital

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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