Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 16,075 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,267,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $459.44 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $74.57 and a one year high of $799.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $552.24 and its 200-day moving average is $433.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. 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 sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Summit Insights cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

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.