Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Cuts Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lowered its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 89,997 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,079 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $15,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after buying an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. LBP AM SA purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its coverage and boosted WDC’s price target to $405 with an Overweight rating, reinforcing institutional buy-side momentum and supporting the rally. Barclays raises price target to $405
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan (and Morgan Stanley commentary) flagged WDC as a top memory/storage idea and JPMorgan raised its price target to $400, adding credibility to the upside case and likely driving buy-side flows. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley Bullish on Western Digital (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage has broadly shifted positive — Evercore and other shops have published bullish notes and the street consensus sits around a “moderate buy,” helping sustain momentum into new highs. Analyst consensus and Evercore note
• Positive Sentiment: Sector bullishness from continued AI-driven memory demand (Micron coverage and broader commentary) is lifting peers like WDC as investors price in stronger near‑term storage demand and higher margins. Stock Market Today, April 22: Micron Technology Surges on Continued Memory Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital published its FY2025 Annual Sustainability Report emphasizing efficiency and sustainability for AI-scale storage — a message that can help institutional ESG positioning but has limited immediate revenue impact. WD Raises the Bar on Sustainable Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Management will be participating in several investor conferences (Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America) in May–June, which provides additional chances for guidance clarity and analyst engagement — important but informational. WD to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Memory-focused ETF flows (first dedicated memory ETF reaching ~$1B AUM) show strong demand for the group, which benefits WDC as a large-cap exposure to the theme but may amplify volatility. Memory ETF hits $1B AUM
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks and other commentators note WDC’s rapid run (to a 52-week high) leaves valuation stretched and raises the risk of a pullback if AI demand growth or margin assumptions disappoint. That makes timing entry points and position sizing more important. Is Western Digital Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold After Hitting a 52-Week High?
• Negative Sentiment: Comparative analysis (SanDisk vs Western Digital) highlights NAND-focused peers with different end-market exposure; investors worried about longer-term NAND vs HDD secular trends may prefer competitors, which could cap WDC’s multiple over time. SanDisk vs. Western Digital: Which Memory Storage Stock Is the Better Buy?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. 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. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Twenty 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.79.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $389.10 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $131.92 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $37.47 and a twelve month high of $402.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $299.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $221.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.