AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 285,222 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,244,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.08% of Western Digital at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of 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. Insiders have sold a total of 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $278.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.19 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $191.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.34. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $285.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $145.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.48.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat: WDC reported $2.13 EPS and $3.02B revenue, topping consensus estimates and showing a meaningful year‑over‑year improvement in profit margins. This is the primary driver behind investor optimism. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Upbeat guidance: Management forecast Q3 revenue above Street estimates, citing sustained demand for HDDs and flash storage from AI servers — reinforcing the view that AI-driven data center demand is driving growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind: Strong results from peer Seagate helped lift WDC ahead of its report as investors priced in continued strength across storage names. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Financial detail & investor materials: The company posted a $1.84B profit and provided a press release, slide deck and conference call — useful for modeling forward margins and capacity plans but not market-moving by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst revisions: Several analysts revised forecasts higher into the print, which supports the bullish thesis but also means expectations are elevated. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and overbought technicals: WDC had run to record highs ahead of earnings, prompting take‑profits and triggering “overbought” warnings that can pressure shares short‑term. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary caution: Media/TV commentators have advised against “chasing” high‑momentum memory/storage names, which can amplify short-term selling after big moves. Read More.

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.