Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Permit Capital LLC

Permit Capital LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 13,050 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up about 3.8% of Permit Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Permit Capital LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $12,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 175.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after purchasing an additional 784,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 463.4% during the 3rd quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd now owns 920,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $110,455,000 after purchasing an additional 756,700 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC has massively outperformed the market this year and over the past 12 months, which has drawn analyst attention and bullish coverage — reinforcing confidence in continued upside tied to AI/data-center demand. TipRanks: Western Digital Has Massively Outpaced S&P 500
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst write-ups and rankings continue to list WDC as a buy and include it among AI/data-center infrastructure winners, supporting demand expectations and longer-term investor conviction. Zacks: Analysts See WDC as a Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Media pieces revisiting last year’s SanDisk split note it allowed clearer market appraisal of WDC’s AI-focused HDD business — a longer-term positive but not an immediate catalyst. MarketWatch: Why SanDisk’s Split Has Been a Win
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst comparisons of WDC vs. peers (e.g., Teradata) and inclusion on AI-infrastructure lists underline the company’s strategic positioning; useful context but not an immediate price driver. Zacks: WDC vs. TDC
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Western Digital is exiting most of its remaining SanDisk stake via a multibillion-dollar secondary offering / sale raised concerns about increased share supply and focus on balance-sheet cleanup rather than buybacks — a likely near-term headwind for the stock. Yahoo Finance: Western Digital Doubles Down On AI Data Centers And Cleaner Balance Sheet
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage noting WDC is selling its SanDisk stake prompted further selling pressure and investor questions about dilution/liquidity timing. Barchart: Western Digital Is Selling SanDisk Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales: Cynthia L. Tregillis sold small blocks of WDC shares on Feb. 23–24 (total ~438 shares) disclosed via SEC filings — not a large position relative to holdings but these filings can amplify negative sentiment on a down day. SEC Filing: Insider Sales (Cynthia L. Tregillis)

Western Digital Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $270.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.80. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $309.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $231.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $162.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total value of $86,763.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 134,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,961,610.30. The trade was a 0.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 67,392 shares of company stock valued at $17,235,141 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have assigned 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 $265.58.

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.