Cardano Risk Management B.V. Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Cardano Risk Management B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 187,935 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $120,038,000. Western Digital accounts for approximately 0.9% of Cardano Risk Management B.V.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 853.8% during the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $3.75 billion, up about 44% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $3.56 per share—both ahead of Wall Street expectations. Growth was supported by AI-related cloud storage demand, stronger pricing, and higher-capacity hard-disk drives. Western Digital Q4 Earnings Beat as Revenue Jumps 44% on Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted strong visibility into AI-storage demand, with some customers negotiating capacity commitments through 2031. The company also expects continued margin expansion, while analysts remain broadly constructive; recent price targets include $630 from Baird and a $575 median across 15 analysts. Western Digital Says AI Customers Are Already Negotiating Storage Deals Through 2031
• Neutral Sentiment: The selloff is part of a broader rotation within semiconductor and memory stocks. Investors have been shifting toward AI networking leaders, while comparing Western Digital’s results with stronger results from rival Seagate Technology. Western Digital Slumps Despite Q2 Beat as Analysts Highlight Peer Seagate’s Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, payable September 17 to shareholders of record September 8. The dividend provides a modest shareholder return but is unlikely to drive the near-term trading reaction.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors viewed fiscal-first-quarter 2027 gross-margin guidance of 55%–56% as insufficiently strong after the stock’s dramatic advance and elevated expectations. Although the outlook implies sequential improvement, it trailed the bar set by Seagate and was interpreted as evidence that the recent margin expansion may be stabilizing. Western Digital Shares Fall as Margin Outlook Tempers Strong Q4 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking intensified because Western Digital had already rallied sharply on the AI-storage theme. The strong earnings beat therefore failed to exceed the market’s unusually high expectations, prompting a valuation reset and technical concerns around support levels. Sandisk, Western Digital Drag on Chip Stocks as Lofty Expectations Eclipse Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Reported insider activity has been heavily tilted toward selling, with 129 sales and no purchases over the past six months. While such transactions may reflect diversification or compensation, the lack of insider buying adds to near-term investor caution.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $434.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $149.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 2.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $565.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $417.35. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 18.21 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 5,093 shares of company stock worth $2,751,337 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Company 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.