Polar Capital Holdings Plc Sells 934,216 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Polar Capital Holdings Plc decreased its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 50.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 913,192 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 934,216 shares during the quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $157,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $57.88 and a 52-week high of $729.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $462.12 and its 200-day moving average is $316.21. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

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.