Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock Sold by SBI Securities Co. Ltd.

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 49.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,091 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 5,020 shares during the quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.0%

WDC opened at $343.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $128.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.34, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $121.85 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $432.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $479.51.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 56.91%. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Susquehanna set a $405.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $584.00.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.