Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Cuts Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 54.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,706 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 56,000 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $5,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 131.9% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 385 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 102.5% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 86.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Benchmark raised their target price on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price target on Western Digital from $170.00 to $197.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.65.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $187.70 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $163.69 and its 200 day moving average is $114.60. The firm has a market cap of $64.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $188.77.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 144,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,265,422.23. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company 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.