Wedbush Securities Inc. Reduces Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Wedbush Securities Inc. trimmed its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 19.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,509 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,972 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $21,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at $53,650,465.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,117 shares of company stock worth $12,053,353. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s long-term outlook remains supported by demand for AI infrastructure, cloud computing, enterprise storage, automotive systems and other data-intensive applications. Analysts at Zacks continue to identify WDC as a potential beneficiary of strong memory and storage demand, particularly following Nvidia’s solid results. 4 High-Flying Memory and Storage Giants
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest quarterly results provide fundamental support: revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion, while earnings of $3.56 per share exceeded expectations. Guidance for $3.85 to $4.15 in next-quarter EPS also remains constructive.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street’s consensus remains bullish, with a “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target above the current trading level. Several firms have cited continued AI and storage demand as reasons for further upside. Wall Street’s Bullish Views on WDC
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold a small portion of her holdings under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The transactions modestly reduce her position but do not necessarily signal deteriorating confidence. Cynthia Tregillis Insider Transactions
• Negative Sentiment: Memory and storage stocks sold off even after Nvidia reported strong results, suggesting investors are taking profits from an extended AI trade and differentiating among suppliers. Western Digital’s underperformance versus peers has amplified concern that expectations or valuation may have become too aggressive. Why Memory Stocks Fell Despite Nvidia’s Results

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.6%

WDC stock opened at $459.45 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $77.90 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $526.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $439.63.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

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.