Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 722,701 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,684,341 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 722,701 shares during the quarter. Western Digital accounts for approximately 1.8% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Fred Alger Management LLC owned approximately 0.79% of Western Digital worth $462,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares during the period. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in 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 buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Up 4.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $681.08 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $462.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $316.21. The company 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 12-month low of $57.88 and a 12-month high of $729.92.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 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. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Western Digital News Roundup

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 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.