Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stake Boosted by AlphaCore Capital LLC

Key Points

• AlphaCore Capital LLC more than doubled its stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter, increasing holdings by 105.6% to 5,328 shares valued at about $918,000.
• Institutional interest in Western Digital remains strong overall, with 92.51% of shares owned by institutional investors and several other funds also adding to positions recently.
• Analysts are increasingly bullish on WDC, with recent upgrades and higher price targets, while the company also reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share.

AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 105.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,328 shares of the data storage provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares during the quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% in the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital unveiled post-quantum cryptography-enabled Ultrastar UltraSMR hard drives, highlighting its push into next-generation, AI-era infrastructure security and potentially expanding enterprise demand. WD Advances Next-Generation Trusted Infrastructure with Industry’s First Post-Quantum Cryptography Hard Drives to Help Secure the Future of AI Data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports about AI storage demand suggest Western Digital and Seagate are benefiting from tighter supply and better pricing power in mass-capacity drives, which is supportive for revenue and margins. Seagate and Western Digital: AI Storage Demand Is Now Showing Up in Pricing Power
• Positive Sentiment: Broader coverage of the AI memory/storage boom is drawing investor attention to Western Digital as one of the names positioned to benefit from infrastructure spending. Memory Chip Stocks to Watch: Micron (MU), SK Hynix, and Western Digital Lead AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, but this is a supportive backdrop rather than a fresh catalyst. Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles on Micron and SanDisk largely reinforce the same industry theme: AI demand is improving the outlook for memory and storage suppliers, but they do not appear to be direct company-specific catalysts for Western Digital. Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today? Why Did Sandisk Stock Drop Today?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Susquehanna reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $395.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $458.68 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $356.14 and its 200-day moving average is $260.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $49.00 and a one year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

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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