Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 20.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,380 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,351 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks rallied across the market, with the Roundhill Memory ETF and semiconductor indexes also advancing. Western Digital participated in the sector-wide rebound as investors returned to AI and data-center hardware names. Memory Stocks Surge. SanDisk Tops S&P 500 Gainers
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary argued that a semiconductor oversupply cycle is unlikely before 2028 because the physical infrastructure needed to create excess capacity is not yet available. That view supports continued pricing power and demand for memory and storage products. Top Chip Analyst on Semiconductor Oversupply
• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand for hard drives and tighter global supply expectations are improving the outlook for Western Digital’s revenue, margins and cash generation. Positive results from Seagate also boosted confidence in Western Digital as a storage-industry peer. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging?
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is the next major catalyst. Investors will assess whether AI-driven demand, pricing and supply constraints are translating into higher margins and favorable guidance; Wall Street currently expects year-over-year earnings growth. Western Digital Reports Next Week
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns remain about competition from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies following its strong market debut, while the broader memory trade has experienced sharp volatility. These factors could pressure valuations if investors begin to expect supply growth or weaker pricing.
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 shares worth approximately $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale represented only 0.70% of her holdings, making it a limited negative signal. Western Digital Insider Sale

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on WDC. Susquehanna increased their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $560.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, July 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 9,767 shares of company stock worth $4,822,807 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 15.4%

Western Digital stock opened at $533.04 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $566.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $406.62. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $73.14 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

About Western Digital

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.