15,962 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Purchased by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,195,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $459.44 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $552.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $433.31. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $74.57 and a one year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value 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. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Profile

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.