Legal & General Group Plc Acquires 187,619 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 9.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,098,618 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 187,619 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $251,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

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, signaling a sustained profit‑expansion path that supports valuation and investor confidence. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Sets Sights on 50%+ Gross Margin and EPS $20+
• Positive Sentiment: WDC says it has completed the transition to a pure‑play HDD company with long‑term supply agreements and capacity fully committed through 2026 (contracts into 2028), improving revenue visibility after the Flash divestiture and recent balance‑sheet actions. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future Tied To Hyperscale Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Peer Seagate reported record exabyte shipments and margin expansion (HAMR ramp), evidence that hyperscaler demand and high‑capacity drives are driving industry‑wide margin improvement — a tailwind for WDC. Will Strong Demand Sustain Seagate’s Margin Expansion Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage and industry pieces (Zacks, Wells Fargo, Cantor Fitzgerald/TD Cowen upgrades) highlight AI/cloud storage tailwinds and view recent sector weakness as a buying opportunity—this constructive research flow can lift sentiment and flows. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: WDC announced a small quarterly dividend (annualized ~$0.50, low yield) — a modest buyback/dividend signal but not a major cash‑return event. MarketBeat: Western Digital (WDC)
• Neutral Sentiment: The breakout performance of spun‑off SanDisk (SNDK) and heightened retail search/coverage bring attention (and volatility) to the storage theme — can either redirect capital away from WDC or validate sector demand. 5 Reasons Why Sandisk Can Rise Another 1,500%
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer product coverage (WD Black P10 game drive review) highlights ongoing retail/consumer franchise but is unlikely to move the stock materially versus the hyperscaler/HDD narrative. In a messy world, WD Black P10 Game Drive blends storage with legacy reliability
• Negative Sentiment: An insider (Vidyadhara K. Gubbi) sold 8,518 shares (~$2.17M at ~$255), reducing that holding by ~7.9%; insider selling can create short‑term pressure or raise questions about timing despite other positive signals. SEC filing: Insider Sale

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $268.81 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $251.77 and its 200-day moving average is $176.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.76. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $309.90.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s 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.