Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Buys Shares of 23,945 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 23,945 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,477,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,270,000. WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $793,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Western Digital by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after acquiring an additional 282,156 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $519.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $66.51 and a one year high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $179.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $564.90 and a 200-day moving average of $398.53.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip peers such as Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix were reported surging on continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure spending and tight memory supply, which can lift sentiment for Western Digital as well. Article: Why Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix Are Surging—And How to Play It
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Western Digital’s AI storage exposure and relatively stronger financial footing versus peers like Super Micro, reinforcing the stock’s appeal as an AI hardware play. Article: WDC vs. SMCI: Which AI Hardware Stock is the Smarter Investment Now?
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation piece argued that Western Digital still looks attractive on earnings and especially cheap on a cash-flow basis, suggesting the recent rally may have room to continue if AI demand remains strong. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: One report said Western Digital reentered merger-focused discussion, but it did not provide a concrete transaction update, so the near-term stock impact is unclear. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Reenters Merger Focus, Where Does Fair Value Sit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position reported, which does not appear to be a major driver of the stock today.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.

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.