Centaurus Financial Inc. Buys New Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 6,872 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,389,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is 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: Western Digital’s AI- and cloud-storage growth thesis remains intact. Industry momentum from AI infrastructure, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and automotive applications is supporting expectations for continued demand. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: A recent exchange of approximately $191 million of 3% convertible notes due 2028 is viewed as constructive liability management because it can reduce debt, although issuing shares may create some dilution. What’s Going on With Western Digital Stock on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital recently reported revenue growth of 44% year over year to $3.75 billion and earnings of $3.56 per share, exceeding estimates. Its next-quarter earnings guidance of $3.85 to $4.15 per share also supports the bullish fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical and analyst indicators remain favorable: a recent hammer chart pattern suggested potential support, while upward earnings-estimate revisions and a bullish Wall Street consensus point to possible longer-term recovery. Western Digital May Find a Bottom Soon

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $462.00 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $77.90 and a one year high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $159.24 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $532.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $439.49.

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 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 return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,117 shares of company stock worth $12,053,353. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company 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.