Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group sharply cut its Western Digital stake by 77% in the fourth quarter, selling 34,589 shares and leaving it with 10,314 shares worth about $1.78 million.
• Western Digital reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $2.72 and revenue of $3.34 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations. Revenue jumped 45.5% from a year earlier, and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $413.50. Several firms recently lifted targets, and the stock has also been helped by optimism around AI-driven demand for storage products.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 77.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,314 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 34,589 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.50.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of WDC opened at $530.60 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $51.17 and a 12-month high of $546.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68 and a beta of 2.10. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $387.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $276.68.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Shares are benefiting from a strong sector-wide “memory melt-up,” with AI infrastructure demand supporting higher pricing power and improving earnings expectations for storage makers like Western Digital. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital to $575, calling the stock “underappreciated” as hard disk drives remain critical for AI data-center buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights Western Digital as a key beneficiary of the AI memory/storage supercycle, with investors searching the name more heavily after strong momentum in peers like Micron and SanDisk. Micron’s $1 Trillion Memory Melt-Up
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia L. Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small relative to her holdings and was made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, so it is unlikely to be a major negative signal for investors. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Another insider sale was also reported the same day, adding to activity that may look cautious, but the transactions appear routine rather than clearly bearish. SEC filing

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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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