Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 6,309 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 42.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,688 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 6,309 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,948,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. James Investment Research Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 16.9% in the third quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 8,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,665,000 after buying an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $15,074,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 44,104 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $20,043,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 141.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 78,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $35,880,000 after buying an additional 46,248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMG Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,040 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $473,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories 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

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total value of $306,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,392,640. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 in the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $900.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.04.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $343.67 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $121.85 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $128.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $432.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $479.51.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 56.91% and a net margin of 69.20%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a $0.1750 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.33%.

Western Digital Profile

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.