Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 18.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,415 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,861 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Western Digital were worth $30,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,270,000. WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $793,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after buying an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $560.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, July 13th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $520.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $519.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $66.51 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $179.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $564.90 and a 200 day moving average of $398.53.

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, 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip peers such as Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix were reported surging on continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure spending and tight memory supply, which can lift sentiment for Western Digital as well. Article: Why Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix Are Surging—And How to Play It
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Western Digital’s AI storage exposure and relatively stronger financial footing versus peers like Super Micro, reinforcing the stock’s appeal as an AI hardware play. Article: WDC vs. SMCI: Which AI Hardware Stock is the Smarter Investment Now?
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation piece argued that Western Digital still looks attractive on earnings and especially cheap on a cash-flow basis, suggesting the recent rally may have room to continue if AI demand remains strong. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: One report said Western Digital reentered merger-focused discussion, but it did not provide a concrete transaction update, so the near-term stock impact is unclear. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Reenters Merger Focus, Where Does Fair Value Sit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position reported, which does not appear to be a major driver of the stock today.

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.