Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio decreased its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 21.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,438 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 32,412 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $32,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 267.6% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $291,422,000 after buying an additional 1,231,477 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $539.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $539.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $359.19. The company has a market cap of $185.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $63.67 and a one year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.52.

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.