Intech Investment Management LLC Acquires 104,424 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 973.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,147 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 104,424 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $13,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $618,000. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 16,322 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $282.25 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $236.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $309.90. The firm has a market cap of $95.69 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.80.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized an additional $4.0 billion share repurchase and flagged an AI/data-center HDD roadmap (40TB UltraSMR in customer qualification; path to 100TB+ HAMR). That buyback plus AI positioning drove the recent rally. QuiverQuant: Buyback expansion and AI-era HDD roadmap
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks added WDC to its top growth/momentum lists and published bullish commentary — reinforcing short-term investor interest and buy-side flows into WDC as an AI/data-center beneficiary. Zacks: Momentum Stock Note
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also added WDC to its Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) growth stocks list, a spotlight that can attract momentum-focused flows. Zacks: Best Growth Stocks to Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital plans to relaunch its G-DRIVE external storage brand — a product/marketing initiative that supports consumer positioning but is not an immediate earnings catalyst. MSN: G-DRIVE Relaunch
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sale disclosed (Cynthia Tregillis sold ~130 shares) — immaterial size but often highlighted by media during volatile sessions. SEC Filing: Insider Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that WDC is exiting most of its remaining SanDisk stake via secondary sale / exchange have raised concerns about added share supply and a focus on balance-sheet cleanup rather than buybacks — a key near-term overhang. Yahoo Finance: SanDisk stake sale and balance-sheet actions
• Negative Sentiment: Citron Research launched a short call focused on Sandisk / the NAND cycle and highlighted WDC’s SanDisk exit as a potential warning — the report can amplify downside while investors digest valuation and cycle risk. Yahoo Finance: Citron Short on Sandisk

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, 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 transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,392 shares of company stock worth $17,235,141. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

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.