Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Bought by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 188.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,138 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,926 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $10,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $461,000. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $13,110,000. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $1,034,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $480,000. Finally, Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations raised its position in Western Digital by 147.8% during the fourth quarter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations now owns 4,968 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 2,963 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,385 shares of company stock valued at $29,499,874. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on WDC. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group increased their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upbeat guidance — WDC reported a Q3 EPS beat and raised its Q4 FY2026 EPS range, showing strong margin expansion and accelerating revenue tied to AI/data-center demand. Western Digital Stock Surges After Q3 Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness & higher price targets — Multiple outlets and analysts have lifted targets (including big calls toward the $500+ area), reinforcing momentum and giving investors upside conviction. AI Boom Drives Western Digital Toward $500 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend hike & valuation narratives — Coverage highlights a 20% dividend increase and improved valuation metrics tied to AI storage demand, attracting income and growth investors. Western Digital Valuation Check
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind from SanDisk’s breakout — SanDisk (spun off from WDC) has surged, underscoring strong demand for memory/storage in AI data centers and supporting bullish sentiment across storage peers. SanDisk Spun Off From Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor events & conference appearance — WDC presented at Barclays’ conference (transcript available), which helps transparency and investor outreach but is informational rather than catalytic. Barclays Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Media coverage & screening interest — Multiple “is it a buy?” and trending-stock writeups (Zacks, Yahoo) are increasing visibility but don’t by themselves change fundamentals. Is Wall Street Bullish or Bearish on WDC?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan (filing available); while planned sales are common and he retains a large stake, markets often view insider selling as a modest negative signal. Irving Tan SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider sale — Insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares; another small reduction in insider holdings that may be noted by investors. V. Gubbi SEC Filing

Western Digital Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $465.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $160.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $43.60 and a 52 week high of $480.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The company’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 research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.99%.

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.