Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Cuts Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lowered its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 26.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,724 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 7,064 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $2,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 207.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One research 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Management is publicly targeting >50% gross margins and EPS north of $20 (management called $20+ a floor), comments that underpin a higher‑profitability narrative and support valuation. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Sets Sights on 50%+ Gross Margin and EPS $20+
• Positive Sentiment: WDC has completed the pivot to a pure HDD company, reporting long‑term supply deals with hyperscale cloud customers, production capacity fully committed through 2026 and agreements extending to 2028 — a revenue visibility and cash‑flow positive development after the Flash divestiture and a $3.1B stake sale/debt reduction. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future Tied To Hyperscale Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts (Zacks, Wells Fargo coverage referenced) are highlighting the storage sector pullback as a buying opportunity given rising AI/cloud storage demand; this analyst tone can lift investor sentiment and provide multiple catalysts for further upside. The Zacks Analyst Blog Western Digital, Seagate Technology and Sandisk
• Neutral Sentiment: WDC is drawing heightened retail/investor attention (rising search and coverage), which can increase short‑term volatility and volume — useful for liquidity but mixed for directional certainty. Investors Heavily Search Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Here is What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: The breakout performance of spun‑off SanDisk (SNDK) — now a multi‑bagger — is drawing headlines and investor capital; this can be a distraction or a positive signal for storage demand, depending on whether investors view WDC’s HDD focus as the better play. 5 Reasons Why Sandisk Can Rise Another 1,500%
• Negative Sentiment: An insider (Vidyadhara K. Gubbi) sold 8,518 shares at an average $255.32 (~7.9% reduction of that holding), a disclosure that can create short‑term selling pressure or prompt investor questions about timing and motives. SEC filing

Western Digital Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $266.22 on Wednesday. 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 twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $309.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $249.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.86. The stock has a market cap of $90.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

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.