Andra AP fonden Raises Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Andra AP fonden lifted its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 136.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 275,646 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 159,056 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $33,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 175.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd raised its stake in Western Digital by 463.4% during the 3rd quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd now owns 920,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $110,455,000 after acquiring an additional 756,700 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized an additional $4.0 billion share repurchase and flagged an AI/data-center HDD roadmap (40TB UltraSMR in customer qualification; path to 100TB+ HAMR). That buyback plus AI positioning drove the recent rally. QuiverQuant: Buyback expansion and AI-era HDD roadmap
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks added WDC to its top growth/momentum lists and published bullish commentary — reinforcing short-term investor interest and buy-side flows into WDC as an AI/data-center beneficiary. Zacks: Momentum Stock Note
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also added WDC to its Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) growth stocks list, a spotlight that can attract momentum-focused flows. Zacks: Best Growth Stocks to Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital plans to relaunch its G-DRIVE external storage brand — a product/marketing initiative that supports consumer positioning but is not an immediate earnings catalyst. MSN: G-DRIVE Relaunch
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sale disclosed (Cynthia Tregillis sold ~130 shares) — immaterial size but often highlighted by media during volatile sessions. SEC Filing: Insider Sale
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that WDC is exiting most of its remaining SanDisk stake via secondary sale / exchange have raised concerns about added share supply and a focus on balance-sheet cleanup rather than buybacks — a key near-term overhang. Yahoo Finance: SanDisk stake sale and balance-sheet actions
• Negative Sentiment: Citron Research launched a short call focused on Sandisk / the NAND cycle and highlighted WDC’s SanDisk exit as a potential warning — the report can amplify downside while investors digest valuation and cycle risk. Yahoo Finance: Citron Short on Sandisk

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $282.25 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $236.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.14. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The company has a market cap of $95.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 6,780 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.49, for a total value of $1,833,922.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 136,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,932,163.62. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,392 shares of company stock valued at $17,235,141. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.