Sanctuary Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 53,854 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 1,085 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $14,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $512,107,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $483,977,000 after acquiring an additional 159,167 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.
Trending Headlines about Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Negative Sentiment: Western Digital is falling with other memory and storage stocks such as Micron, SanDisk, Seagate, and SK Hynix as traders take profits after a sharp run-up in AI-related names. Nasdaq Slips as Chip Stocks Come Under Pressure
- Negative Sentiment: Sentiment weakened further after reports of a large Shanghai IPO filing by Chinese memory rival CXMT, which raised fears of new competition in an already crowded market. Why Is Western Digital Stock Falling on Thursday?
- Neutral Sentiment: Despite the selloff, some analysts still argue that AI storage demand remains a strong long-term tailwind for Western Digital and that the recent weakness may be more about near-term profit-taking than a deterioration in fundamentals. Everyone’s Buying NVIDIA, but 2 Smaller AI Stocks Could Soar Higher
- Neutral Sentiment: Recent bullish coverage also points to Western Digital’s strong revenue growth, expanding margins, and earnings beat, which could help limit downside if investors refocus on fundamentals. Which Storage Stock Is Best Positioned to Win the AI Memory War?
Western Digital Stock Down 9.2%
Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $466.81 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.87 and a beta of 2.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $560.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $383.94. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $66.04 and a twelve month high of $799.87.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’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, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 3.58%.
Insider Activity at Western Digital
In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.
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