10,405 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC Bought by RD Finance Ltd

RD Finance Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 10,405 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,729,000. Western Digital comprises 4.4% of RD Finance Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,694,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,466,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,599,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,307,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: A Bank of America note said memory customers are locking in supply for multiple years, lifting the broader memory and storage group. Western Digital benefited alongside Micron and SanDisk as investors anticipated stronger pricing and demand. Bank of America memory-market article
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital CEO Irving Tan said AI-related storage demand could grow about 25% annually and expressed confidence that the company can expand margins despite data-center cost concerns. Western Digital CEO AI-demand article
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised its quarterly dividend by 16.7% following strong fiscal first-quarter results, reinforcing the case for improving cash generation. Western Digital dividend increase article
• Positive Sentiment: Argus maintained a Buy rating despite lowering its price target to $500, while several bullish analyses cited strong earnings, robust cloud demand and favorable storage pricing. Argus Western Digital rating

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $540.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.04.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of WDC opened at $356.13 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $429.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $413.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $121.85 and a 1-year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 55.62%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a $0.1750 dividend. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.33%.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.