NewEdge Wealth LLC Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 22,648 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,466,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its position in Western Digital by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a shortage of storage products and continued AI-related demand, supporting an optimistic long-term growth outlook. Is Western Digital Stock an Undervalued AI Stock to Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum-focused analysis continues to identify WDC as an attractive pick, reflecting strong recent performance and favorable investor sentiment toward AI-driven storage demand. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer said it may not be too late to invest in memory and storage stocks, but he also highlighted the sector’s historical boom-and-bust cycles, underscoring the risk of sharp swings in demand and pricing. Jim Cramer Discusses WDC and Other Memory Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: A broader technology selloff pressured WDC and other memory stocks as investors reduced exposure to AI hardware following a Wall Street Journal report about undisclosed AI-related spending commitments. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Lower
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are weighing on high-growth semiconductor and storage shares by increasing discount rates and making richly valued AI trades less attractive, even without a deterioration in memory fundamentals. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: One recent analysis argues that WDC could be substantially overvalued after its strong rally, while uncertainty over whether Apple can source high-bandwidth memory from Chinese suppliers is creating additional volatility around potential demand shifts. Western Digital Could Be Overvalued on Apple China Memory Push

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $462.09 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $555.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $431.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.14 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $159.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,987 shares of company stock worth $11,602,097. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.