Lido Advisors LLC Sells 9,113 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Lido Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 23.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,287 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 9,113 shares during the quarter. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $7,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth increased its position in Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA lifted its stake in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WDC. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $560.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.32.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip peers such as Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix were reported surging on continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure spending and tight memory supply, which can lift sentiment for Western Digital as well. Article: Why Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix Are Surging—And How to Play It
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Western Digital’s AI storage exposure and relatively stronger financial footing versus peers like Super Micro, reinforcing the stock’s appeal as an AI hardware play. Article: WDC vs. SMCI: Which AI Hardware Stock is the Smarter Investment Now?
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation piece argued that Western Digital still looks attractive on earnings and especially cheap on a cash-flow basis, suggesting the recent rally may have room to continue if AI demand remains strong. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: One report said Western Digital reentered merger-focused discussion, but it did not provide a concrete transaction update, so the near-term stock impact is unclear. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Reenters Merger Focus, Where Does Fair Value Sit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position reported, which does not appear to be a major driver of the stock today.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC opened at $519.80 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $66.51 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 2.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $564.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $397.06.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 28,959 shares of company stock valued at $12,631,666 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.