Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,033,555 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 65,063 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $350,321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,347 shares of company stock worth $17,974,293. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 8.3%

WDC opened at $524.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $382.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.09. The company has a market cap of $180.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.62 and a 12-month high of $536.12.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a sector-wide rally in memory and storage stocks after Micron’s surge sparked bullish sentiment across the AI memory complex. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Articles highlight growing storage demand as more people use large language models and AI systems, supporting the idea that Western Digital’s products will be needed more in future data centers. Why Is Everyone Talking About Western Digital Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent post-quantum cryptography rollout in its Ultrastar UltraSMR drives is being framed as a strategic move for next-generation AI infrastructure and storage security. Is Western Digital (WDC) the Best Performing Data Center Stocks So Far in 2026?
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage simply notes that Western Digital has been one of the stronger-performing data center/storage stocks this year, reinforcing momentum rather than introducing a new fundamental catalyst. Is Western Digital (WDC) the Best Performing Data Center Stocks So Far in 2026?
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling, including roughly $18 million in shares, may temper some enthusiasm because it can signal limited near-term confidence from executives. Western Digital Insiders Sold US$18m Of Shares Suggesting Hesitancy

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WDC. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America increased their price objective on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $406.42.

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.