Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Purchases New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,859 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,104,000. Western Digital accounts for 0.9% of Persistent Asset Partners Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $508.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $73.14 and a one year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $556.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.77.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Mizuho set a $590.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.