Norges Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,578,446 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $788,729,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its stake 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 purchasing 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.
Western Digital Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.17 and a 1 year high of $553.50. The firm has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $396.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.03.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have commented on WDC. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.50.
Read Our Latest Research Report on WDC
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total value of $115,480.82. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,221,431.91. The trade was a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 54,405 shares of company stock valued at $18,575,428 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Western Digital News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
- Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
- Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
- Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
- Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
- Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing
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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