South Dakota Investment Council Has $512,000 Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,267 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 111,541 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $512,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 86.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased 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 last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Company completed the spin‑off of its flash business and repositioned as a pure‑play HDD supplier, reportedly selling a ~$3.1B stake and securing long‑term hyperscaler agreements that fully book HDD production through at least 2028 — this improves cash, reduces leverage and gives multi‑year revenue visibility. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future With Hyperscaler AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Management and analysts highlight sold‑out nearline/HDD capacity for 2026 and guidance pointing to material revenue and margin expansion driven by AI (video, large‑model data), underpinning a structural re‑rating story. Western Digital: AI’s Unsung Storage Backbone
• Neutral Sentiment: Options flow and institutional activity show heightened trading interest — large option bets and increased analyst coverage keep liquidity high but also increase short‑term volatility. Western Digital’s Options: A Look at What the Big Money is Thinking
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer retail promotions and pricing anomalies (e.g., SSD deals) create short‑term retail noise but have limited impact on the enterprise HDD thesis that’s driving the stock. This 2TB WD SN850X is cheaper from Walmart than the equivalent 1TB model in a strange deal
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insider sales were disclosed (senior execs sold shares on March 4), which can sap near‑term sentiment even if sales are for diversification; investors often view clustered executive selling as a caution flag. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells $2,501,349.48 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warn of valuation and cyclical peak risk — some argue recent gains price in peak AI storage demand and a pullback or normalization in hyperscaler buying could trigger downside. Market anxiety after a very large prior run (and a recent sharp sell‑off episode) contributes to heavier profit‑taking. Western Digital: Strong AI Tailwinds, But Valuation Signals Cyclical Peak Risk What Drove WDC Stock’s Historic 490% Jump

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 5.3%

Western Digital stock opened at $245.25 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $309.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $246.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.86. The firm has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. China Renaissance began coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

About Western Digital

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.