Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Parnassus Investments LLC

Key Points

• Parnassus Investments LLC reduced its stake in Western Digital Corporation by 14.3%, selling 426,433 shares, leaving it with approximately 2.55 million shares valued at over $103 million.
• Western Digital reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.66, surpassing estimates, with a revenue of $2.61 billion, a 30% increase from the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.5%, and announced a significant share repurchase plan of $2 billion.

Parnassus Investments LLC lessened its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 14.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,553,614 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 426,433 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC owned approximately 0.73% of Western Digital worth $103,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Broad Bay Capital Management LP increased its stake in Western Digital by 112.3% during the 1st quarter. Broad Bay Capital Management LP now owns 819,511 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $33,133,000 after buying an additional 433,511 shares during the period. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 354.1% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 5,863 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 4,572 shares in the last quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.6% in the first quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 116,985 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $4,730,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.7% in the first quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Nishkama Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 682.6% in the first quarter. Nishkama Capital LLC now owns 586,129 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $23,697,000 after buying an additional 511,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.7%

WDC opened at $82.04 on Friday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $70.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $82.16. The firm has a market cap of $28.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.58.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Western Digital announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the data storage provider to purchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on WDC. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $62.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $53.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Western Digital from $58.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total transaction of $654,333.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,148,052.40. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the transaction, the insider owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,361 shares of company stock valued at $3,006,534. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.

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