ARS Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

ARS Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 26.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 67,328 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up about 2.7% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $51,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Avion Wealth grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. BOKF NA raised its stake in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $746.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $257.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.55 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $487.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.17. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $58.66 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from surging demand tied to AI data centers and cloud storage, which is boosting investor confidence in the company’s earnings outlook. Western Digital stock surges on AI demand; Morgan Stanley bullish on WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its view on WDC, reinforcing the idea that the stock still has room to run after the recent rally. Morgan Stanley Raises Price Target on Western Digital (WDC). Here is Why
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s earnings were said to nearly double on strong AI and cloud demand, which supports the recent move up in the shares. Western Digital Earnings Nearly Double on AI, Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s comments about unavoidable memory price hikes helped lift the broader memory/storage group, including WDC, by improving the pricing backdrop for the industry. SanDisk Jumps 11%, Western Digital Rises 7% After Apple Flags “Unavoidable” Memory Price Hikes

Insider Buying and Selling 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 owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.