Black Swift Group LLC Buys New Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Black Swift Group LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 12,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,153,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in 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. Avion Wealth raised its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 207.0% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,405 shares of company stock worth $18,575,428. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $396.29 and a 200-day moving average of $281.78. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $51.17 and a 1-year high of $553.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.99%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mizuho set a $470.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.50.

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.