Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 152,876 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,024 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $27,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 175.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,347,000 after buying an additional 784,645 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on WDC. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $378.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Argus set a $300.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.29.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.0%

WDC opened at $372.52 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $35.51 and a twelve month high of $378.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $293.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.65. The stock has a market cap of $126.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.36, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its WDC price target to $415 and assigned a “buy” rating, signaling increased analyst conviction and implying further upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $400 and moved to “overweight,” another institutional upgrade supporting the rally and likely attracting more buyer interest. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals and earnings momentum — WDC has a recent track record of beats and raised guidance drivers (high-capacity/HAMR drives, manufacturing productivity). Analysts and outlets highlight the company as positioned to beat again, which supports valuation multiple expansion. Will Western Digital (WDC) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Positive Sentiment: WDC reported multi‑year AI storage commitments from large customers, boosted its dividend by 25% and announced meaningful buybacks — all shareholder‑friendly actions that underpin investor confidence in continued demand from AI workloads. Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 7.7% After Securing Multi‑Year AI Storage Commitments And Boosting Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Broader market strength (Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq gains and new highs) is lifting cyclical and growth names, providing tailwinds for WDC’s share price. Dow jumps 800 points, S&P 500 at new record, Nasdaq gains 6.8% this week
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage notes WDC hitting record highs and strong institutional buying, but also documents insider selling activity — the market reaction so far shows buyers outweighing internal selling, so this is mixed for near‑term direction. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges to Record Peak Despite Insider Sales Activity
• Negative Sentiment: Retail SSD price cuts (example: WD Blue SN5100 markdown) could signal near‑term ASP pressure in consumer channels and tighter margins if competition forces broader discounting. WD Blue SN5100 NVMe SSD drops to $324.61 in latest price cut

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.