Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Sells 9,895 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR reduced its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 29.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 9,895 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after purchasing an additional 186,030 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in Western Digital by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $354,247,000 after purchasing an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $220,680,000. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC stock opened at $187.70 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $64.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $188.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Benchmark increased their target price on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.65.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald published a bullish note urging a long position in WDC, citing AI infrastructure spending as a structural tailwind for HDD demand and positioning Western Digital as a direct beneficiary of data-center buildouts. Cantor Fitzgerald Urges Long Position on Western Digital (WDC) Amid AI Infrastructure Wave
• Positive Sentiment: Market and technical momentum: commentators note WDC is testing record highs alongside a rally in AI and storage chips, reinforcing investor interest as the stock approaches its 52-week top. WDC Testing Record Highs as AI & Storage Chips Rally
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat roundup: WDC was one of 2025’s top performers (≈+290% YTD) after the SanDisk spinoff, with strong FY2026 earnings and revenue. That performance underpins current investor confidence in HDD exposure to large-scale AI data storage. The 3 Stocks That Crushed the S&P 500 in 2025
• Positive Sentiment: Evidence of institutional accumulation: reports suggest large tech firms have been quietly buying WDC shares post-spinoff, supporting higher multiples and reducing near-term downside risk. Why Big Tech Is Quietly Buying Western Digital Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Outlook pieces weigh 2026 demand: analysts and coverage note strong 2025 gains but discuss where growth in HDD and NAND will normalize vs. continued AI-driven demand — useful context but not an immediate directional catalyst. Western Digital stock and rival Seagate soared in 2025. What’s the 2026 outlook?
• Neutral Sentiment: Competition and rotation: analysts recommend watching adjacent data-center plays (e.g., Pure Storage) as capital can rotate within the storage stack in 2026 — potential reallocation risk but also diversification of the AI hardware trade. After Record Runs for Western Digital and Sandisk in 2025, Consider This 1 Data Center Storage Stock for 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Rising expectations/volatility risk from SanDisk’s run: SanDisk’s explosive post-spinoff gains have raised sector expectations; elevated sentiment increases the chance of sharp pullbacks if demand or pricing softens. That higher benchmark for flash could feed short-term volatility across storage names. The Trade Desk vs. SanDisk: Buying the Wreckage or the Winner?
• Negative Sentiment: Market risk: broader tech pullbacks have shown up even as the sector rallies — an AP note recorded a modest intraday decline for WDC on year-end positioning, highlighting sensitivity to macro and sentiment swings. Shares are higher in Asia in an upbeat start to the new year

About Western Digital

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.