Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 26,531 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 157.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 43,392 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,531 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $8,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 175.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $294.97 on Monday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $277.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $200.88. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $319.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. 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 payout ratio is 5.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group set a $306.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.75.

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 at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.