Castle Hook Partners LP Sells 426,733 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Castle Hook Partners LP lowered its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,325,670 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 426,733 shares during the period. Western Digital comprises about 0.9% of Castle Hook Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Castle Hook Partners LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $228,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Western Digital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WDC. UBS Group lifted their price target on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.6%

WDC opened at $712.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $245.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 2.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $470.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.53 and a 12 month high of $741.85.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley boosted its outlook on Western Digital, lifting its price target and reinforcing a bullish view on HDD demand and the company’s HAMR roadmap, which helped push the shares to new highs. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here’s Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to surging AI infrastructure spending and cloud storage demand as the main catalyst, with Western Digital increasingly viewed as a beneficiary of the AI trade. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says earnings are nearly doubling on AI and cloud demand, while estimates continue to move higher, supporting momentum-trader interest in WDC. Western Digital (WDC) Moves 4.2% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching the June 22 SanDisk-related catalyst, which could influence sentiment but is not yet a confirmed financial event. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary warns the rally may have run ahead of fundamentals and could be due for a near-term pullback after the stock’s massive year-to-date run. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

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.