OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Invests $19.69 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 30,834 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $19,694,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.57 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $552.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $434.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.