Swiss National Bank Buys 52,500 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,003,307 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 52,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $271,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 30.2% during the first quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 7,342 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,986,000 after buying an additional 1,704 shares during the last quarter. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $2,114,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. AIA Group Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,119,000. Finally, Spartan Wealth Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,639,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Fox Advisors cut shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have 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 MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.32.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital 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 value of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: New coverage says Western Digital is well positioned to benefit from global AI infrastructure growth, with rising demand for advanced memory and storage supporting a stronger long-term revenue outlook. 4 Top-Ranked Memory Stocks to Buy as AI Infrastructure Expands Globally
• Positive Sentiment: Another report highlighted Western Digital as one of two smaller AI storage names that could benefit from expanding data center demand, citing improving margins and earnings growth potential. Everyone’s Buying NVIDIA, but 2 Smaller AI Stocks Could Soar Higher
• Positive Sentiment: A separate Zacks piece argues AI data growth is accelerating HDD demand and that Western Digital’s focused strategy could help it capture hyperscale storage opportunities. AI Data Growth is Exploding: Can Western Digital Keep Up?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several market wrap-ups noted high volatility in tech and momentum stocks, which is adding noise to trading in Western Digital and other memory names. The Tech Shakeout: Market Extremes & Gavin Baker’s Bold Call
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street commentary also flagged Western Digital as part of a broader AI-memory trade, with analysts still generally constructive but market sentiment swinging sharply day to day. Which Storage Stock Is Best Positioned to Win the AI Memory War?
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports said Western Digital fell alongside SanDisk and Micron as investors took profits in semiconductor and memory stocks, reflecting sector-wide rotation rather than company-specific trouble. Nasdaq Slips as Chip Stocks Come Under Pressure
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital also faced a post-rally pullback as traders reassessed how durable the AI-driven storage boom will be ahead of the company’s next earnings report and guidance. Why Western Digital (WDC) Stock Is Down Today

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $477.22 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $66.04 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $560.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.59. The company has a market capitalization of $164.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

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.