Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Posted by Defense World Staff on Feb 19th, 2026

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,903 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $469,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $366,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $1,465,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 26,522 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,184,000 after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $534,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 38,579 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $4,632,000 after buying an additional 5,849 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 70,522 shares of company stock worth $17,661,708 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $296.56 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $223.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $156.07. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $309.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $100.55 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Benchmark upped their price objective on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

View Our Latest Report on WDC

Western Digital News Summary

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

Positive Sentiment: Large SanDisk stake sale and debt swap — WDC is selling roughly $3.17B of SanDisk shares via a secondary offering and plans a related exchange of those shares for debt held by financial affiliates, which cuts leverage and speeds balance‑sheet repair. This is the main near‑term driver of positive sentiment. Western Digital to sell $3.17 billion stake in Sandisk
Positive Sentiment: Sold out HDD production for 2026 as AI demand surges — Multiple reports say Western Digital’s HDD capacity is fully booked for 2026 as hyperscalers buy to support AI storage needs, which supports revenue growth, pricing and utilization. Western Digital Sold Out All 2026 Hard Drive Production as AI Centers Scramble
Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional momentum — Recent analyst “buy/outperform” calls and bullish price targets, plus flows showing large institutional re‑weighting, help underpin investor confidence in WDC’s AI/storage re‑rating. Western Digital climbs as Sandisk stake sale boosts debt-reduction outlook
Neutral Sentiment: Preferred-share conversion — WDC converted Series A convertible perpetual preferred shares, simplifying capital structure; this reduces complexity but has limited immediate cash impact. Western Digital Converts Preferred Shares, Simplifying Capital Structure
Neutral Sentiment: Industry pricing tailwinds — Reports that SSDs/HDDs could get more expensive due to AI-driven demand suggest better margins ahead, but timing and competitive responses leave some uncertainty. Thanks to AI, WD and Seagate SSDs are about to get much more expensive
Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and partial stake disposal — Quiver/filings show numerous insider sales and WDC will retain a smaller Sandisk position with plans to dispose of the remainder over time, which some investors may view as dilution of conviction or ongoing supply of shares to the market. Western Digital climbs as Sandisk stake sale boosts debt-reduction outlook
Neutral Sentiment: Retail product promotion — A consumer promotion (WD 16TB Elements discounted) is positive for brand/retail sales but is immaterial to the enterprise/AI narrative driving the stock. WD’s 16TB Elements External Hard Drive Delivers Maximum Storage at Minimum Cost, Now Just $0.02 per GB

Western Digital Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.