Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stake Lifted by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,453 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $31,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 182.6% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 65 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity 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 shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,392,640. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $591.04.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $4.38 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 and free cash flow of $1.38 billion, exceeding expectations. Management also forecast approximately $5.1 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue and $5.80 in non-GAAP EPS, signaling continued strength in AI-related data-center storage demand. Western Digital slides as strong results fail to calm spending and sector worries
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets remain well above the current trading level, with Quiver Quantitative citing a six-month median target of $650. Several analysts view Western Digital as a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure expansion and rising demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Western Digital selloff and analyst targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate are both benefiting from AI data-center spending. However, comparisons favor Seagate on some metrics, including return on equity, valuation and free-cash-flow generation, potentially affecting investor preference within the storage group. Seagate versus Western Digital
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending and lofty storage-sector valuations can remain sustainable. A sharp decline in Sandisk and weakness across memory and semiconductor stocks amplified pressure on WDC, even after Sandisk delivered strong results and raised guidance. Memory-sector selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Quarterly capital spending of $227 million, continued buybacks and capacity and technology-transition needs have raised concerns about cash demands and future returns. Profit-taking after WDC’s substantial earlier advance may also be contributing to the decline. Quiver also reports 110 insider sales and no insider purchases over the past six months, an additional sentiment headwind. Western Digital spending and insider activity

Western Digital Stock Down 7.4%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $366.11 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $421.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $416.75. The company has a market cap of $137.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $132.43 and a twelve month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.72%.

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.