CI Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

CI Investments Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1,356.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,914 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,929 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $558.30 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $564.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $396.20. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $66.51 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $192.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital has reentered merger discussions with Kioxia, reviving speculation about a combination that could create a larger NAND flash memory player and unlock value from its flash assets.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlight Western Digital as a beneficiary of strong AI-related storage demand and tight memory supply, which is boosting sentiment across the memory sector.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary says Western Digital looks reasonable on earnings and inexpensive on cash flow, suggesting the stock may still have upside even after a big multi-year rally.
• Positive Sentiment: A report comparing WDC with Super Micro said Western Digital’s AI storage focus and stronger financial footing make it an appealing AI hardware play.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage from the sector noted that memory stocks, including Western Digital, jumped after Morgan Stanley projected memory prices could rise at least 25% from Q2 to Q3, reinforcing expectations for stronger margins and profits.
• Neutral Sentiment: One article framed Western Digital as a stock with a large valuation gap versus DCF-based fair value, reflecting optimism but also implying the recent rally has already priced in some of the good news. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: Another piece simply referenced Western Digital in a broader list of AI stocks to buy on dips, adding to the bullish narrative but not providing a new company-specific catalyst.

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.