Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Dana Investment Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Dana Investment Advisors cut its Western Digital stake by 7.3% in Q4, though the stock remains heavily owned by institutions and hedge funds at 92.51% of shares outstanding.
• Western Digital beat earnings and revenue expectations for the latest quarter, posting $2.72 EPS versus $2.39 expected and $3.34 billion in revenue versus $3.25 billion expected, with revenue up 45.5% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13, while analysts have generally turned more positive, with several upgrades and a consensus rating of Moderate Buy.

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,120 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 2,446 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 105.6% during the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 5,328 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $363,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 351,672 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $60,583,000 after purchasing an additional 66,450 shares in the last quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $23,634,000. Finally, Avantax Planning Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $250,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $482.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.77. The firm has a market cap of $166.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.79 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $49.00 and a 12-month high of $525.15.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was named to the 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index North America, highlighting its ESG and sustainable AI infrastructure leadership. The company also said the index inclusion and improved operating profile reflect its growing role in AI data storage demand. WD Named to 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best‑in‑Class Index North America, Recognizing Leadership in Sustainable AI Infrastructure
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to point to Western Digital’s AI storage exposure, with articles citing surging earnings, rising hyperscaler demand, and stronger shareholder returns after the SanDisk spinoff as reasons the stock has been trending higher. WDC's Whopping 893% Run in a Year: Buy the Stock Amid AI Storage Boom?
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced a 20% dividend increase, which investors may view as a sign of confidence in cash flow and capital returns alongside record AI-related demand for its storage and data platforms. Western Digital Links Higher Dividend And ESG Index Win To AI Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital is also showing up on “trending stock” lists, suggesting elevated investor interest, but these mentions do not add new fundamental information by themselves. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate note said Western Digital’s price target was raised, which can support sentiment but is still secondary to the bigger AI-storage and capital-return story. Western Digital (WDC) price target increased by 31.02% to 483.72
• Negative Sentiment: No major company-specific negative catalyst emerged in the latest headlines, though some coverage compares Western Digital with peers such as Micron and Seagate, which keeps valuation and competition in focus. Why I'd Rather Own Micron Stock Than Sandisk

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $395.83.

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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