Bessemer Group Inc. Increases Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 284.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,401 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,439 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,305,289 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $593,045,000 after purchasing an additional 186,030 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its holdings in Western Digital by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $354,247,000 after buying an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $239,022,000 after acquiring an additional 545,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $220,680,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

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

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven “memory supercycle” thesis — smart money is rotating into memory names as AI infrastructure demand creates historic needs for speed and capacity, supporting WDC’s secular demand outlook. The Memory Supercycle Is Here—2 Winners From 1 Breakup
• Positive Sentiment: Large buyback — WDC authorized an additional $4.0 billion share repurchase (bringing total remaining capacity to ~$4.484B), which reduces share count and signals management confidence. This is a key near-term driver for EPS accretion and sentiment. 3 Massive Buybacks That Map the Market’s Mood in 2026 (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Margin improvement — WDC reported a 46.1% gross margin in fiscal Q2 (up ~770 bps YoY and 220 bps sequentially), showing the company is capturing pricing and mix benefits from a tight supply environment. Higher margins underpin profitability and valuation expansion. What’s Supporting Western Digital’s Gross Margin Momentum?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support — Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $325 price target, providing additional broker support and implied upside from current levels. Wedbush Outperform Reaffirmation
• Positive Sentiment: Debt reduction — Western Digital completed redemption of its 2026 senior notes, tightening near-term liabilities and improving financial flexibility. That reduces refinancing risk and complements shareholder-return actions. Western Digital Completes Redemption of 2026 Senior Notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Context and momentum recap — Longer-form coverage (Forbes) highlights WDC’s ~500% multi‑year surge driven by AI demand, restructuring, and buybacks; useful for sentiment but largely descriptive rather than a fresh catalyst. What’s Behind The Incredible 500% Surge Of Western Digital Stock?
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds — Coverage (The Motley Fool / CNBC mentions) reiterates an AI memory crunch benefiting suppliers like WDC; supports the structural bull case but is broader sector confirmation rather than company-specific news. The AI Memory Crunch Is Creating Winners and Losers. Here Are the Stocks to Buy

Western Digital Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $285.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $207.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $296.50. The company has a market cap of $96.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.79.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on WDC shares. UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Benchmark boosted their price target on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.58.

Western Digital 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.