Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 39,600 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 39,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,711,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $675.39 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $62.53 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $232.79 billion, a PE ratio of 40.32 and a beta of 2.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $513.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.93.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $450.46.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s strong quarter is being treated as a read-through for the entire memory/storage group, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep Western Digital’s business environment favorable. Western Digital Stock And Seagate Get Boost From Big Micron Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted that AI-related memory demand is outpacing supply, which could support better pricing and margins for Western Digital if current trends continue. AI boom keeps memory chip makers in sweet spot, says expert
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators said Micron’s results helped “justify elevated valuations” across memory names, fueling a sector-wide rally that included Western Digital. Sandisk, Western Digital, and others soar as Micron results ‘justify elevated valuations’
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical commentary noted a hammer pattern and improving earnings estimate revisions for WDC, which may be supporting bullish sentiment but is not a fundamental catalyst by itself. Here’s Why Western Digital (WDC) Is a Great ‘Buy the Bottom’ Stock Now

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.