Avantax Planning Partners Inc. Takes $250,000 Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,451 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital was named to the 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index North America, highlighting its ESG and sustainable AI infrastructure leadership. The company also said the index inclusion and improved operating profile reflect its growing role in AI data storage demand. WD Named to 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best‑in‑Class Index North America, Recognizing Leadership in Sustainable AI Infrastructure
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators continue to point to Western Digital’s AI storage exposure, with articles citing surging earnings, rising hyperscaler demand, and stronger shareholder returns after the SanDisk spinoff as reasons the stock has been trending higher. WDC’s Whopping 893% Run in a Year: Buy the Stock Amid AI Storage Boom?
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced a 20% dividend increase, which investors may view as a sign of confidence in cash flow and capital returns alongside record AI-related demand for its storage and data platforms. Western Digital Links Higher Dividend And ESG Index Win To AI Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital is also showing up on “trending stock” lists, suggesting elevated investor interest, but these mentions do not add new fundamental information by themselves. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate note said Western Digital’s price target was raised, which can support sentiment but is still secondary to the bigger AI-storage and capital-return story. Western Digital (WDC) price target increased by 31.02% to 483.72
• Negative Sentiment: No major company-specific negative catalyst emerged in the latest headlines, though some coverage compares Western Digital with peers such as Micron and Seagate, which keeps valuation and competition in focus. Why I’d Rather Own Micron Stock Than Sandisk

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 1.4%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $482.20 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $49.00 and a 52 week high of $525.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.79 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $352.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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 anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

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.