Night Squared LP Trims Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Night Squared LP lessened its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 52.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,989 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 18,435 shares during the quarter. Night Squared LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its outlook on Western Digital and boosted its price target, adding to the bullish case that AI data-center growth is driving stronger-than-expected storage demand. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here’s Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say WDC is benefiting from a broader re-rating of AI storage stocks, with investors focused on tight hard-disk supply, sold-out inventory, and higher pricing power. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Media coverage highlighted a hyperscaler multiyear commitment to Western Digital, reinforcing confidence that demand from large cloud customers remains robust. Hyperscaler’s Multiyear Commitment with Western Digital (WDC) Highlights Robust Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching June 22 for the planned SanDisk-related swap, which could create another event-driven trading catalyst for WDC. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: One commentary piece argued the stock may be due for a near-term pullback after its huge run-up this year, suggesting valuation and momentum risks could cap gains in the short term. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $462.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $316.21. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $57.88 and a 52-week high of $729.92. The firm has a market cap of $234.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

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.