71 West Capital Partners Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

71 West Capital Partners bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,916 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $793,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its outlook on Western Digital and boosted its price target, adding to the bullish case that AI data-center growth is driving stronger-than-expected storage demand. Western Digital Stock Just Hit a New All-Time High. Here’s Why.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports say WDC is benefiting from a broader re-rating of AI storage stocks, with investors focused on tight hard-disk supply, sold-out inventory, and higher pricing power. Western Digital stock jumps as AI trade reignites
• Positive Sentiment: Media coverage highlighted a hyperscaler multiyear commitment to Western Digital, reinforcing confidence that demand from large cloud customers remains robust. Hyperscaler’s Multiyear Commitment with Western Digital (WDC) Highlights Robust Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching June 22 for the planned SanDisk-related swap, which could create another event-driven trading catalyst for WDC. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 22
• Negative Sentiment: One commentary piece argued the stock may be due for a near-term pullback after its huge run-up this year, suggesting valuation and momentum risks could cap gains in the short term. Western Digital stock looks ripe for a near-term pullback: find out more

Western Digital Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $234.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $57.88 and a 1-year high of $729.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $462.12 and its 200 day moving average is $316.21.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors 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 represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale 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 dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Western Digital 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.