Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: Atlatl Advisers LLC Trims Position

Key Points

• Atlatl Advisers cut its Western Digital position by 91.2% in the third quarter, selling 12,690 shares and retaining 1,222 shares valued at approximately $555,000.
• Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64 and revenue of $4.38 billion, beating estimates as cloud and data-center demand drove strong growth. Management issued above-consensus Q2 guidance of $5.0 billion–$5.2 billion in revenue and $5.60–$6.00 in adjusted EPS.
• Despite bullish analyst ratings and durable AI-related storage demand, investors remain concerned about elevated valuations, potential moderation in HDD pricing, higher capital expenditures, supply increases and execution risks tied to HAMR technology.

Atlatl Advisers LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 91.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,222 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 12,690 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC's holdings in Western Digital were worth $555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Western Digital by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $147,275,000 after acquiring an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $19,694,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $14,466,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,599,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,307,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $668.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Friday. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Western Digital from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $900.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $584.00.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. 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 Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $343.67 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $432.18 and its 200 day moving average is $479.51. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $121.85 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $128.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 56.91%. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. Western Digital's revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.

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