Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Purchased by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Key Points

• Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 37.5% in the first quarter, adding 12,506 shares for a total of 45,852 shares valued at about $12.4 million.
• Western Digital beat quarterly expectations, posting $2.72 EPS versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion, with sales up 45.5% year over year. The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.12 to $0.15.
• The stock is facing near-term pressure amid broader memory-sector weakness as traders take profits and worry about increased competition from Chinese memory rival CXMT, even as some analysts still point to strong AI-related demand and upbeat fundamentals.

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 37.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,852 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,506 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $12,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. BOKF NA grew its holdings in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $466.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $160.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $66.04 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $560.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $383.94.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital is falling with other memory and storage stocks such as Micron, SanDisk, Seagate, and SK Hynix as traders take profits after a sharp run-up in AI-related names. Nasdaq Slips as Chip Stocks Come Under Pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment weakened further after reports of a large Shanghai IPO filing by Chinese memory rival CXMT, which raised fears of new competition in an already crowded market. Why Is Western Digital Stock Falling on Thursday?
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the selloff, some analysts still argue that AI storage demand remains a strong long-term tailwind for Western Digital and that the recent weakness may be more about near-term profit-taking than a deterioration in fundamentals. Everyone's Buying NVIDIA, but 2 Smaller AI Stocks Could Soar Higher
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent bullish coverage also points to Western Digital’s strong revenue growth, expanding margins, and earnings beat, which could help limit downside if investors refocus on fundamentals. Which Storage Stock Is Best Positioned to Win the AI Memory War?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

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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