Aberdeen Group plc Increases Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 272,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,227 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.08% of Western Digital worth $46,941,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $307,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 184.5% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 69,496 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $4,447,000 after purchasing an additional 45,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 27.1% during the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,951 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $294.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $100.01 billion, a PE ratio of 29.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $277.62 and its 200 day moving average is $200.18. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $319.62.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus set a $300.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.75.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and buy-side repositioning pushed WDC sharply higher — Bernstein upgraded WDC to Outperform, sparking double-digit intraday gains as investors positioned ahead of earnings and viewed recent dips as buying opportunities. Western Digital (WDC) Shares Skyrocket, What You Need To Know
• Positive Sentiment: Macro/industry tailwinds from an AI-driven storage squeeze: analysts and industry pieces note hyperscalers are locking long-term HDD/nearline capacity, leaving WDC sold out into 2026 and improving margins and visibility — a structural demand story supporting higher revenue and valuation. There’s A Storage Problem With AI Inference – And Western Digital Knows It
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector-focused products and ETFs are increasing investor attention to memory/storage names (e.g., launch of a Roundhill Memory ETF), which can amplify flows into WDC but also concentrate volatility. Roundhill Investments Launches First-Ever Memory ETF (DRAM)
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre-earnings positioning: coverage pieces noting WDC’s strong YTD returns and valuation checks are keeping the stock in focus; these narratives support trading interest but are mixed for near-term direction until results are released. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check As AI Storage Optimism And Q3 2026 Earnings Expectations Build
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded WDC from “strong-buy” to “hold,” a headline that can trigger short-term selling by momentum-driven funds or cautious investors re-evaluating conviction after a large run-up. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market risk and short-term profit-taking: rising rate/inflation worries and sector rotation led to pullbacks across tech; Benzinga noted a recent intraday pullback and volatility that pressured WDC briefly. What’s Going On With Western Digital Stock Thursday?

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.