Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock Position Cut by Apis Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Apis Capital Advisors reduced its Western Digital stake by 13% in the fourth quarter, selling 26,900 shares and leaving it with 179,900 shares worth about $31 million.
• Western Digital has been benefiting from bullish Wall Street sentiment, with multiple firms raising price targets and analysts citing strong HDD demand, AI infrastructure spending, and its HAMR roadmap.
• The company also reported strong recent fundamentals, including quarterly EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue up 45.5% year over year, while it raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 from $0.13.

Apis Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 13.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 179,900 shares of the data storage provider's stock after selling 26,900 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up approximately 5.4% of Apis Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Apis Capital Advisors LLC owned 0.05% of Western Digital worth $30,991,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Avion Wealth grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. BOKF NA grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley boosted its outlook on Western Digital, lifting its price target and reinforcing a bullish view on HDD demand and the company’s HAMR roadmap, which helped push the shares to new highs. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here's Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to surging AI infrastructure spending and cloud storage demand as the main catalyst, with Western Digital increasingly viewed as a beneficiary of the AI trade. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says earnings are nearly doubling on AI and cloud demand, while estimates continue to move higher, supporting momentum-trader interest in WDC. Western Digital (WDC) Moves 4.2% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching the June 22 SanDisk-related catalyst, which could influence sentiment but is not yet a confirmed financial event. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary warns the rally may have run ahead of fundamentals and could be due for a near-term pullback after the stock’s massive year-to-date run. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $712.13 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.53 and a 12 month high of $741.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $470.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $320.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.46 billion, a PE ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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