West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,986 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,268,000.
Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $14,466,000. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $1,300,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $1,511,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $2,070,000. Finally, Robotti Robert acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,906,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna raised their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.
Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a shortage of storage products and continued AI-related demand, supporting an optimistic long-term growth outlook. Is Western Digital Stock an Undervalued AI Stock to Buy?
- Positive Sentiment: Momentum-focused analysis continues to identify WDC as an attractive pick, reflecting strong recent performance and favorable investor sentiment toward AI-driven storage demand. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
- Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer said it may not be too late to invest in memory and storage stocks, but he also highlighted the sector’s historical boom-and-bust cycles, underscoring the risk of sharp swings in demand and pricing. Jim Cramer Discusses WDC and Other Memory Stocks
- Negative Sentiment: A broader technology selloff pressured WDC and other memory stocks as investors reduced exposure to AI hardware following a Wall Street Journal report about undisclosed AI-related spending commitments. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Lower
- Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are weighing on high-growth semiconductor and storage shares by increasing discount rates and making richly valued AI trades less attractive, even without a deterioration in memory fundamentals. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
- Negative Sentiment: One recent analysis argues that WDC could be substantially overvalued after its strong rally, while uncertainty over whether Apple can source high-bandwidth memory from Chinese suppliers is creating additional volatility around potential demand shifts. Western Digital Could Be Overvalued on Apple China Memory Push
Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital
In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% 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 24,987 shares of company stock worth $11,602,097 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Western Digital Price Performance
NASDAQ WDC opened at $462.09 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $555.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $431.58. The company has a market cap of $159.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $73.14 and a 1-year high of $799.87.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. 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 2.48%.
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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