Westpac Banking Corp Has $5.61 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp increased its stake in Western Digital by 231.1% in the first quarter, ending with 20,720 shares valued at about $5.61 million.
• Institutional ownership in Western Digital remains very high, with 92.51% of shares held by institutions and hedge funds. Several other large investors also added to positions, including major funds such as Norges Bank and Soroban Capital Partners.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive: Western Digital has a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average price target of $520.32. The company also beat quarterly earnings estimates and raised its dividend from $0.12 to $0.15 per share.

Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) by 231.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,720 shares of the data storage provider's stock after acquiring an additional 14,462 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $520.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a sector-wide rebound in semiconductors, with investors buying back into memory stocks after a steep pullback. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging on Tuesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that AI is driving stronger memory and storage demand are supporting the bull case for Western Digital, with analysts expecting a continued recovery in pricing and earnings power. NVIDIA Isn't Leading AI Stocks in 2026 - These 2 Are Up Over 180%
• Positive Sentiment: Several market summaries say Western Digital is part of a broad AI trade rebound, alongside Micron and SanDisk, as investors look ahead to major tech earnings and a potential memory upgrade cycle. Chip Stocks Surge but Software Sector Feels the Pain Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has also been mentioned in commentary about a possible 2027 hardware refresh cycle tied to AI memory growth, which could help long-term demand but is still more of a future thesis than a near-term catalyst. AAPL, HPQ, SNDK, WDC: Gene Munster Says 'Memory Hog' AI Will Trigger a Massive 2027 Upgrade Cycle

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $548.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $189.02 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $66.04 and a one year high of $799.87. The company's fifty day moving average price is $561.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $390.88.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

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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