Profund Advisors LLC Has $5.53 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Profund Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 442.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,109 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,187 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $791,317,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Western Digital by 11.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Trading Down 4.8%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $458.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.00 and a 1-year high of $525.15. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $356.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.04.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital unveiled post-quantum cryptography-enabled Ultrastar UltraSMR hard drives, highlighting its push into next-generation, AI-era infrastructure security and potentially expanding enterprise demand. WD Advances Next-Generation Trusted Infrastructure with Industry’s First Post-Quantum Cryptography Hard Drives to Help Secure the Future of AI Data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports about AI storage demand suggest Western Digital and Seagate are benefiting from tighter supply and better pricing power in mass-capacity drives, which is supportive for revenue and margins. Seagate and Western Digital: AI Storage Demand Is Now Showing Up in Pricing Power
• Positive Sentiment: Broader coverage of the AI memory/storage boom is drawing investor attention to Western Digital as one of the names positioned to benefit from infrastructure spending. Memory Chip Stocks to Watch: Micron (MU), SK Hynix, and Western Digital Lead AI Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating, but this is a supportive backdrop rather than a fresh catalyst. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles on Micron and SanDisk largely reinforce the same industry theme: AI demand is improving the outlook for memory and storage suppliers, but they do not appear to be direct company-specific catalysts for Western Digital. Why Did Micron Stock Drop Today? Why Did Sandisk Stock Drop Today?

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.