Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Takes $5.63 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 8,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,628,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.57 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $552.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $434.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Company 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.