Baird Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,712 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 411 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,431 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in Western Digital by 101.9% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 8,743 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $521,000 after purchasing an additional 4,412 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 38,969 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in Western Digital by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 13,604 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 2,309 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total value of $1,024,159.47. Following the transaction, the insider owned 151,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,687,602.84. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at $10,121,547.78. This trade represents a 9.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 49,975 shares of company stock worth $3,935,806. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $96.15 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $97.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.69. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $88.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.89.

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.