Sterling Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) by 27.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,747 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,915 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Western Digital by 109.4% in the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 268 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 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: Micron’s strong quarterly results reinforced the AI-driven memory shortage theme, which has lifted Western Digital along with other memory stocks. Western Digital Stock And Seagate Get Boost From Big Micron Earnings Beat
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to highlight strong AI memory demand, rising estimate revisions, and favorable supply-demand dynamics for WDC. Micron’s Robust Q3 Results Raise Investor Attention on These 3 Stocks
- Neutral Sentiment: Reports of SK Hynix planning a Nasdaq listing on July 10 add more attention to the broader memory ecosystem, but the direct impact on WDC is unclear. Is the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) a Buy Before July 10?
- Negative Sentiment: After the sector’s big rally, memory and semiconductor stocks are pulling back as investors take profits and worry that memory and storage costs may have gotten ahead of fundamentals. MU, SNDK, WDC: 3 Key Reasons Why Memory Stocks Are Falling Today
- Negative Sentiment: Broader tech-sector weakness is weighing on WDC alongside other chip names, adding to the selloff in the group. Semiconductor stocks retreat over worries about memory costs
Western Digital Stock Down 13.2%
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital
In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms have weighed in on WDC. UBS Group lifted their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $450.46.
View Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital
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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