Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Sells 2,628 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC lessened its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,532 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,628 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its position in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $483.15 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $166.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.79. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.60 and a fifty-two week high of $483.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the transaction, the insider owned 120,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,459 shares of company stock worth $19,883,236. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and stronger guidance — Western Digital reported a meaningful EPS beat and set higher FY‑Q4 EPS guidance, reinforcing the AI/storage demand story and explaining upward momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts lifting targets — Multiple firms have raised price targets (some toward the $500 area), supporting buy-side conviction and fresh buy ratings. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Rank #1 inclusion — Zacks added WDC to its Strong Buy list, which can boost inflows from model‑driven investors and screens. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase and valuation narrative — A 20% dividend hike and improved margins tied to AI storage have drawn both income and growth buyers. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind / positive media commentary — High‑profile bullish mentions (e.g., Jim Cramer praising storage names) and SanDisk’s breakout lift sentiment across storage peers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity-for-equity exchange announced — WD disclosed exchange agreements involving Sandisk and WD shares; details are largely administrative but worth monitoring for share‑count or ownership effects. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor outreach and coverage — WDC presented at Barclays and has multiple feature pieces and screen appearances; helpful for visibility but not an immediate catalyst. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotions / product pricing noise — A steep discount on a WD_Black consumer SSD is notable for retail demand but has limited bearing on enterprise/HDD AI demand driving the rally. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares under a 10b5‑1 plan; while routine, large insider sales can be interpreted negatively by some investors. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider reductions — Other executives (including Vidyadhara Gubbi) reported small sales this week; cumulative executive sales are a modest offset to the bullish fundamentals. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.83.

Western Digital 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.