Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 1,444 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,444 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $6,963,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth grew 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 acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. BOKF NA increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho boosted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $539.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $539.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $359.19. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $63.67 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $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 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

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.