Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 141.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 78,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 46,248 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $35,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 104.3% in the 3rd quarter. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,040 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,700.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trifecta Capital Advisors LLC now owns 144 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 947.2% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,613 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,642,000 after buying an additional 3,268 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 84,807 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $38,541,000 after buying an additional 23,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LifeWealth Investments LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital 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 owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total value of $194,918.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 111,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,096,736. The trade was a 0.39% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,629 shares of company stock worth $11,033,404. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are positioning for a potential earnings beat. Western Digital has a strong history of exceeding estimates, and analysts expect management to report continued momentum in its upcoming results. Why Western Digital Is Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates Again
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating trends support the bullish case: the prior quarter delivered revenue growth of roughly 44% year over year, expanding margins and more than $1 billion in free cash flow. Management’s previous guidance called for fiscal Q1 revenue growth of approximately 42% to 49%, reflecting strong demand for high-capacity drives. Western Digital Rises Ahead of Earnings as Investors Bet on Strong Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target to $800 and maintained a Buy rating. Morgan Stanley also expects strong results and improved guidance, while its $643 target remains substantially above the current trading level. Seagate and Western Digital Stocks Gain
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the recent rebound, WDC remains in a severe bear-market pattern after falling more than half from its June high. The earnings report and forward guidance will be critical in determining whether AI-related storage demand can support a sustained recovery. Western Digital Stock Is Stuck in a Bear Market
• Negative Sentiment: Risks include concerns that data-center spending could slow, alongside broader questions about AI investment financing and competition. In addition, insider transactions reported over the past six months were exclusively sales, which may weigh on investor confidence. Cramer Warns on Western Digital and SanDisk

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDC. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $525.00 to $470.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Western Digital from $590.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wedbush raised their price target on Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $378.51 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $438.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $480.05. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $117.23 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $141.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Western Digital Company 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.