Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 18,751 shares during the quarter. Western Digital makes up approximately 1.4% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. owned 0.07% of Western Digital worth $41,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting 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?

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total transaction of $2,174,815.76. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 99,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,347,148.32. The trade was a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.75.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $294.97 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $277.62 and a 200-day moving average of $200.18. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $319.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio 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.