Western Digital Corporation $WDC Position Increased by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 35.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 234,245 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,166 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $28,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 3,597 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 444.2% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 12,920 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 10,546 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $250.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $136.62. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $285.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 44.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat and upbeat guidance — WDC reported $2.13 EPS vs. ~$1.93 consensus and revenue of $3.02B (+25% Y/Y); management guided Q3 well above Street estimates, citing strong demand from AI/data center customers. Western Digital Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turn more bullish — several firms upped ratings/targets (Wells Fargo $335, Wedbush $325, TD Cowen to $325, Morgan Stanley, Citi maintain/raise Buy calls), reflecting expectations for sustained AI-led capacity demand and margin upside. Analyst Coverage & Price Target Changes
• Positive Sentiment: Management and CEO comments highlight AI-driven storage growth — CEO Irving Tan emphasized that AI inference is generating more data and requiring more storage, supporting ongoing demand for high‑capacity HDDs and flash. Western Digital CEO: AI inference is generating more data and requiring storage hence demand growth
• Positive Sentiment: Company to outline AI storage roadmap at Feb. 3 Innovation Day — investors have an upcoming event to get product/roadmap detail, which could provide further visibility on TAM and upside. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for February 3
• Neutral Sentiment: Small quarterly dividend declared — WDC announced a $0.125 per‑share dividend (ex‑dividend Mar 5), a token yield that is unlikely to materially move the stock but may be noted by income investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Shares gave back gains after the initial rally — despite the beat and strong guide, intraday profit‑taking and repositioning pushed the stock down on elevated volume, suggesting some investors are booking gains after a rapid run. Western Digital Shares Give Up Gains After Earnings Beat, Strong Guidance
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/positioning risks — some analysts and market pieces noted WDC was overbought ahead of results; after a big run to an all‑time high, elevated expectations increase the risk of short‑term pullbacks. Overbought Ahead of Earnings

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s 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. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Western Digital to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.95.

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.