Raymond James Financial Inc. Raises Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 107,187 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 446 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Western Digital by 34.1% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 242.2% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $92.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $93.10. The company has a market cap of $32.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.69.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 24.93% and a net margin of 14.13%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the data storage provider to buy up to 11.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 8,621 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.90, for a total value of $654,333.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 594,836 shares in the company, valued at $45,148,052.40. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 49,975 shares of company stock valued at $3,935,806. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $53.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Western Digital from $58.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.28.

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.