Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Acquired by CI Investments Inc.

CI Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1,356.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,914 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,929 shares during the quarter. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 80.2% in the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. 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 that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.3%

WDC opened at $558.30 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $564.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $396.20. The company has a market cap of $192.43 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $66.51 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital has reentered merger discussions with Kioxia, reviving speculation about a combination that could create a larger NAND flash memory player and unlock value from its flash assets.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlight Western Digital as a beneficiary of strong AI-related storage demand and tight memory supply, which is boosting sentiment across the memory sector.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary says Western Digital looks reasonable on earnings and inexpensive on cash flow, suggesting the stock may still have upside even after a big multi-year rally.
• Positive Sentiment: A report comparing WDC with Super Micro said Western Digital’s AI storage focus and stronger financial footing make it an appealing AI hardware play.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage from the sector noted that memory stocks, including Western Digital, jumped after Morgan Stanley projected memory prices could rise at least 25% from Q2 to Q3, reinforcing expectations for stronger margins and profits.
• Neutral Sentiment: One article framed Western Digital as a stock with a large valuation gap versus DCF-based fair value, reflecting optimism but also implying the recent rally has already priced in some of the good news. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: Another piece simply referenced Western Digital in a broader list of AI stocks to buy on dips, adding to the bullish narrative but not providing a new company-specific catalyst.

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.