Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock Holdings Cut by Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.

Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,357,834 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 42,600 shares during the quarter. Western Digital accounts for about 17.2% of Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $867,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased 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 during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Western Digital by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after buying an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Western Digital by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the period. Finally, Win Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $1,233,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $450.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $155.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $77.90 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $521.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $442.03.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid 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 currently 2.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% 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 sold a total of 23,642 shares of company stock worth $10,676,659 over the last 90 days. 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.