Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 875,582 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $559,252,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $291,422,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,477 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Western Digital News

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

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Barclays lifted 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. Citigroup decreased their target price on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $508.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $73.14 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The firm 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 moving average price is $556.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.77.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

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.