Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Invests $420,000 in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $420,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 86.9% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, CNB Bank bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $200.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $68.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $169.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $118.67. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $221.23.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $4.10 billion for the quarter. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 7.28%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Intraday institutional order‑flow bullish signal (Power Inflow) triggered near $187.86, drawing buying interest and helping reverse an early pullback. Western Digital Shares Rise 5% After Key Trading Signal
• Positive Sentiment: Higher‑capacity HDDs and hyperscaler demand are cited as the main drivers of revenue growth and outlook improvement, supporting the firm’s core enterprise storage business and margins. Higher Capacity HDDs Drive Western Digital’s Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum: coverage notes WDC has risen more than 9% YTD and enjoyed very strong gains in 2025, which can attract momentum and growth‑oriented flows. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Has Risen More Than 9% Since the Start of 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/earnings setup: previews point to double‑digit EPS growth expectations ahead of Western Digital’s Q2 report, which reinforces the fundamental case for the rally. Western Digital Earnings Preview: What to Expect
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually high options volume indicates elevated short‑term interest and positioning; could amplify intraday moves but is ambiguous on direction unless one can see call/put skew. Western Digital Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDC)
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer SSD branding updates (WD Black/Blue → SanDisk Optimus collection) are product‑level news that support retail visibility but are unlikely to materially change near‑term enterprise revenue. WD Black and WD Blue gaming SSDs have transformed into the Sandisk Optimus Collection
• Negative Sentiment: Sector froth/risk: commentary on memory and chip stocks running hot raises the risk of an overheated trade and mean‑reversion if macro or AI demand narratives slow. That poses short‑term downside if momentum reverses. Memory Chip Stocks are Red-Hot. Is it Too Late to Buy?

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $240.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $170.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.50.

About Western Digital

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.