Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

Key Points

• State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its stake in Western Digital by 2.3%, selling 2,804 shares and finishing the quarter with 119,311 shares valued at about $20.55 million.
• Western Digital reported strong results and raised guidance — recent beats and Q4 guidance (EPS $3.10–3.40; revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B) point to sustained enterprise/AI storage demand and have driven sector momentum.
• Insiders have been net sellers, including CEO Irving Tan and a director, with 92,711 shares sold over the past three months and insiders now owning just 0.18% of the company.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,311 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 2,804 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Western Digital were worth $20,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Avion Wealth increased 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 purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. ~ $2.34–2.41) and reported revenue growth of ~45%, with conference materials and a slide deck available — results underpin the rally and justify re-rating on stronger profitability. MarketBeat Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q4 EPS to $3.10–3.40 and revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B, above consensus — signaling sustained pricing power from enterprise AI storage demand. Reuters: WDC forecasts revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Peer signals: SanDisk and Seagate also flagged strong AI-related demand and higher revenue outlooks, giving sector-level validation that hyperscaler capex is driving near-term HDD/SSD consumption. Reuters: SanDisk joins peers signaling AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum from Seagate’s blowout results lifted investor appetite for WDC ahead of and after the print — reinforcing a near-term “picks-and-shovels” trade into storage suppliers. 247WallSt: HDD trade lifts WDC & STX
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive (some raised price targets; institutional notes like Bank of America were bullish), but consensus estimates were elevated into the print — meaning future upside depends on execution and whether demand stays strong. Barchart: Analysts bullish ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upbeat guidance, some traders sold into the news — headlines and TV coverage called it a “buy the rumor, sell the news” episode after WDC’s large prior gains, producing intraday pullbacks. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Several outlets noted late-day slips and profit-taking after the print; elevated valuation and very large short- and long-term moves increase volatility risk for investors entering new positions now. Yahoo Finance: Stock slips late despite beat

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $332.00.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.3%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $434.52 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.60 and a 1-year high of $441.99. The company's fifty day moving average price is $314.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Western Digital 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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