Gotham Asset Management LLC Decreases Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Gotham Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 506,754 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 24,980 shares during the period. Western Digital comprises approximately 0.3% of Gotham Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned 0.15% of Western Digital worth $87,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Avion Wealth increased its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. BOKF NA grew its position 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley boosted its outlook on Western Digital, lifting its price target and reinforcing a bullish view on HDD demand and the company’s HAMR roadmap, which helped push the shares to new highs. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here’s Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles point to surging AI infrastructure spending and cloud storage demand as the main catalyst, with Western Digital increasingly viewed as a beneficiary of the AI trade. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage says earnings are nearly doubling on AI and cloud demand, while estimates continue to move higher, supporting momentum-trader interest in WDC. Western Digital (WDC) Moves 4.2% Higher: Will This Strength Last?
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching the June 22 SanDisk-related catalyst, which could influence sentiment but is not yet a confirmed financial event. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary warns the rally may have run ahead of fundamentals and could be due for a near-term pullback after the stock’s massive year-to-date run. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays increased their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $712.13 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $470.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.53 and a 12 month high of $741.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.52 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Western Digital Company 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.