Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Purchased by Horizon Investments LLC

Key Points

• Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 140%, buying 12,657 shares to hold 21,695 shares worth about $3.74 million, while several large funds (WCM, Fred Alger, Soroban, AQR, Polar) also materially added positions — institutional investors now own roughly 92.51% of the company.
• Western Digital beat Q3 expectations (EPS $2.72 vs. $2.39; revenue $3.34B, +45.5% YoY), raised Q4 guidance (EPS 3.10–3.40), announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.15, and has drawn multiple analyst upgrades and higher price targets boosting bullish sentiment.

Horizon Investments LLC boosted its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 140.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,695 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,657 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 175.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.1%

WDC stock opened at $432.03 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.49. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $43.60 and a one year high of $446.62. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $314.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $234.84.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.68 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WDC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Western Digital from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $660.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.74.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat expectations: Q3 EPS $2.72 and revenue $3.34B, both above consensus, and management raised FY‑Q4 guidance (EPS and revenue) — this underpins the bullish case for continued AI/cloud storage demand. Earnings & press materials
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades/target raises followed the quarter — Citi hiked its target to $500 (Buy) citing stronger visibility into AI-driven HDD demand, lifting investor optimism. Citi raises target to $500
• Positive Sentiment: Other firms (Rosenblatt, TD Cowen and others) boosted targets or reiterated Buy as AI/data‑center demand drives margin expansion and share‑buyback capacity; the company also announced a quarterly dividend increase, signalling confidence in cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry signal — peers (SanDisk/Seagate) also reported strong results and demand commentary, confirming sector‑wide AI storage tailwinds but raising questions about how much of that is already priced in. Reuters: sector demand
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction was mixed — the stock slipped after the beat as some traders engaged in “buy the rumor, sell the news” profit‑taking following an enormous YTD run; elevated expectations mean strong results may not produce further immediate upside. Yahoo: stock falls despite beat
• Negative Sentiment: Not all analyst moves are bullish: UBS raised its target to $375 but kept a Neutral rating — that level implies downside from current prices and provides a near‑term anchor for traders focused on risk management. Benzinga: UBS target

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders sold 72,711 shares of company stock valued at $19,191,604 in the last ninety days. Company 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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