16,075 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Acquired by Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 16,075 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,267,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in 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 period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during 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 buying an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors raised its position 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 valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Western Digital by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 342,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,040,000 after buying an additional 131,247 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $459.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.57 and a 52-week high of $799.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $552.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $433.31.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date 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 is currently 2.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Fox Advisors cut shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

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.