Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Acquired by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Key Points

• Nomura Asset Management increased its Western Digital stake by 33.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 282,156 more shares and bringing its total holding to 1,122,095 shares valued at about $193.3 million.
• Western Digital continues to attract broad institutional investor support, with firms like Vanguard, Norges Bank, and others also adding to or initiating positions; overall, institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the stock.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share. Analyst sentiment remains positive, with several firms reiterating buy-type ratings and price targets above current levels.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 33.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider's stock after buying an additional 282,156 shares during the period. Western Digital makes up about 0.5% of Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.33% of Western Digital worth $193,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don't Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Western Digital Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $396.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.03. The company has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.17 and a 12-month high of $553.50.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 54,405 shares of company stock valued at $18,575,428 over the last ninety days. 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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