4,576 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Bought by PCM Encore LLC

PCM Encore LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 4,576 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $483,977,000 after purchasing an additional 159,167 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.5%

WDC stock opened at $469.05 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $74.42 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $554.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $433.12.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. The company’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 year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. 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 is presently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. UBS Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.