Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

Key Points

• National Pension Service boosted its Western Digital stake by 267.6% in the fourth quarter, ending with 1.69 million shares valued at about $291.4 million.
• Western Digital reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.72 beating estimates and revenue of $3.34 billion topping expectations, while guidance for Q4 2026 was set at 3.10 to 3.40 EPS.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, and Wall Street sentiment remains bullish, with analysts assigning a consensus Moderate Buy rating and a $413.50 price target.

National Pension Service increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 267.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.50% of Western Digital worth $291,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.18 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $553.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $391.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WDC. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Mizuho set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,655 shares of company stock worth $18,179,038. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is being viewed as a key beneficiary of surging AI infrastructure spending, with multiple reports citing stronger data-center storage demand and improving pricing conditions for memory and hard drives. Western Digital Stock Investors Need to See This
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage around the “memory melt-up” continues to support the stock, as peers like Micron and SanDisk rally on the same supply-tight, AI-demand narrative that is also benefiting WDC. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target on Western Digital to $575 and called the stock “underappreciated,” pointing to HDD demand tied to AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital appointed former NVIDIA executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the company’s AI infrastructure credentials and signaling deeper alignment with the AI build-out theme. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and executed under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a strong bearish signal. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles note the stock has become very extended after a sharp multi-month run, which could lead to volatility even though the fundamental backdrop remains supportive. Sandisk Stock’s 4,000% Rise Is Happening Too Fast to Keep Up With

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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