Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Increases Holdings

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 44,335 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,978 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $20,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth $13,652,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd raised its position in Western Digital by 170.0% in the third quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd now owns 432 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $196,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 85.3% in the third quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 189 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XML Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6.0% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ WDC opened at $347.35 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $417.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $418.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $132.43 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $130.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 2.27.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 55.62%. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.33%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks recovered some of Monday’s losses after a cautious outlook from Kioxia weighed on the group; Western Digital joined the rebound, providing a near-term tailwind for WDC. SanDisk Surges as Memory Stocks Rebound
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital raised its quarterly dividend nearly 17% to $0.175 per share. The increase follows a strong fiscal first quarter, with revenue up 55% and adjusted earnings up 161% year over year. Western Digital Raises Its Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Cloud customers generated 88% of revenue, with cloud sales growing 54%. That reflects strong storage demand, but also leaves WDC particularly exposed to spending by a concentrated customer segment. Western Digital’s Cloud Revenue Share
• Negative Sentiment: A report on Jim Cramer’s comparison favored Micron over Western Digital, which may underscore competition for investor attention as AI-related memory demand attracts interest. Micron vs. Western Digital
• Negative Sentiment: A Western Digital director sold 18.7% of their stake under a preset plan. The planned nature of the sale may temper its significance, but insider selling can still draw investor notice. Western Digital Director Sells Shares

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $540.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $430.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.04.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.