Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Purchased by Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 62.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,424 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,173 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth raised its position in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total value of $136,883.67. Following the transaction, the insider owned 120,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. ~ $2.34–2.41) and reported revenue growth of ~45%, with conference materials and a slide deck available — results underpin the rally and justify re-rating on stronger profitability. MarketBeat Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q4 EPS to $3.10–3.40 and revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B, above consensus — signaling sustained pricing power from enterprise AI storage demand. Reuters: WDC forecasts revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Peer signals: SanDisk and Seagate also flagged strong AI-related demand and higher revenue outlooks, giving sector-level validation that hyperscaler capex is driving near-term HDD/SSD consumption. Reuters: SanDisk joins peers signaling AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum from Seagate’s blowout results lifted investor appetite for WDC ahead of and after the print — reinforcing a near-term “picks-and-shovels” trade into storage suppliers. 247WallSt: HDD trade lifts WDC & STX
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive (some raised price targets; institutional notes like Bank of America were bullish), but consensus estimates were elevated into the print — meaning future upside depends on execution and whether demand stays strong. Barchart: Analysts bullish ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upbeat guidance, some traders sold into the news — headlines and TV coverage called it a “buy the rumor, sell the news” episode after WDC’s large prior gains, producing intraday pullbacks. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Several outlets noted late-day slips and profit-taking after the print; elevated valuation and very large short- and long-term moves increase volatility risk for investors entering new positions now. Yahoo Finance: Stock slips late despite beat

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $380.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Western Digital from $325.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $332.00.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $434.52 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $314.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.19. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.60 and a 1-year high of $441.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

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.