Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. reduced its Western Digital stake by 16.2% in the first quarter, selling 25,320 shares and leaving it with 130,989 shares valued at about $35.4 million.
• Western Digital insiders have also been selling shares, including CEO Irving Tan and Director Bruce E. Kiddoo, with total insider sales of 29,322 shares worth $12.8 million over the last three months.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive, with multiple analysts raising price targets and maintaining bullish ratings; the consensus target price is $508.32 and the stock has a “Moderate Buy” rating.

Candriam S.C.A. cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 16.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,989 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 25,320 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $35,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during 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 last quarter. Avion Wealth grew its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. BOKF NA raised its position 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 buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in 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 related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $508.32.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turned more bullish on Western Digital, with reports highlighting strong AI storage demand and multiple price-target hikes, including Susquehanna’s increase to $500 and broader Wall Street optimism. Seagate Stock Rises After Analyst Upgrades To Buy. Western Digital Nabs Price-Target Hike.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent articles say WDC is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks as investors regain confidence in AI infrastructure spending and storage demand. Western Digital and Seagate Surge 7%, Micron and SanDisk Climb 6% as Memory Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other commentary continue to frame Western Digital as an AI infrastructure winner, citing strong revenue growth, margin expansion, and an improved outlook for future earnings. Micron & One AI Infrastructure Stock to Buy Now for Big Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: One item flagged an apparent short-interest update showing zero shares reported, but the data appears unusual and is unlikely to be a meaningful trading signal on its own.
• Negative Sentiment: Some valuation-focused commentary suggests the stock may be getting expensive on earnings metrics even after its strong run, which could limit upside if growth expectations cool. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock traded up $4.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $582.59. The stock had a trading volume of 4,801,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,095,433. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $64.23 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78 and a beta of 2.11. The stock's fifty day moving average is $555.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $372.84.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business 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 business's revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. 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 $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 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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