Inspire Advisors LLC Takes $4.45 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 37,062 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,450,000. Western Digital accounts for approximately 0.4% of Inspire Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 112.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,524 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 2,918 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $307,000. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Western Digital by 11.6% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 225,958 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,459,000 after purchasing an additional 23,519 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Western Digital from $170.00 to $197.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $189.05.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $221.51 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.85. The firm has a market cap of $75.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.78. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $230.48. 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 (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 7.28%.

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.