Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Reduces Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lowered its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,665 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 17,142 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $17,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after acquiring an additional 186,030 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Western Digital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares in the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $220,680,000. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $240.85 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $184.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.35 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $250.44.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The company’s revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 7.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush increased their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on Western Digital from $145.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.29.

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.