Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Invests $15.07 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 125,508 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,068,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WDC. SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $225,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $233,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,594,000 after purchasing an additional 7,913 shares during the period. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $358,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 8.5%

WDC stock opened at $241.90 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $244.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.78. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $179.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.86.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total transaction of $102,363.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 143,318 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,819,822. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. This trade represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.76.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Significant analyst upgrades and price-target hikes have lifted conviction: Bank of America raised its WDC target to $257 and kept a buy rating. Bank of America note
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt also boosted its target sharply to $270 and reiterated a buy view, adding momentum to the rally. Rosenblatt note
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights a structural rotation from GPUs to storage — investors cite tight NAND/HDD supply, pricing power and AI-driven demand for capacity as a multi-quarter tailwind for WDC. MarketBeat: Forget the Chips
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate catalyst: Western Digital scheduled an Innovation Day for Feb. 3 to showcase AI/storage roadmaps (HAMR, data‑center HDD/SSD strategy) — a positive event that could reinforce the AI-storage narrative. Innovation Day announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings: WDC is projected to report next Thursday — results and guidance could amplify moves in either direction. Earnings projection
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sale: Director/officer Cynthia Tregillis sold 447 shares (~$229 avg). The trade is small relative to her total holdings and is reported in an SEC filing. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer promotions (e.g., a temporary discount on a WD_Black expansion card) are visible but unlikely to move the data-center-driven rally. Kotaku: WD_Black discount
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and momentum concerns: several pieces warn WDC’s rapid, multi‑hundred‑percent rally may be overextended and susceptible to a pullback if supply/pricing normalizes. Yahoo: Has WDC run too far?
• Negative Sentiment: Cycling risk: analysts note WDC is not a pure AI play — if memory supply recovers or HBM demand dynamics change, earnings and multiples could re-rate lower. Seeking Alpha: pullback risk

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.