Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by Caxton Associates LLP

Caxton Associates LLP cut its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 92.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 826 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 10,297 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd 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. Avion Wealth grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA raised its holdings in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,767 shares of company stock worth $13,059,607. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand for high-capacity hard drives from cloud providers and data centers, driven by rapidly increasing AI-generated data, is supporting Western Digital’s growth outlook. Tighter global supply could also improve pricing and margins. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Seagate’s strong results provided a read-through for Western Digital, reinforcing expectations that demand for enterprise storage remains healthy. Analysts, including Wedbush and Citigroup, have also maintained bullish views and elevated price targets. Seagate, SK Hynix, Ford, Vertiv, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street expects earnings growth in Western Digital’s next report. Investors will focus on whether AI-related storage demand, supply tightness and pricing power can support results and forward guidance after the stock’s sharp rally. Western Digital Reports Next Week
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital previously exceeded quarterly estimates, reporting $2.72 in earnings per share versus a $2.39 consensus and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year. That performance raises expectations for the upcoming report.
• Negative Sentiment: The broader AI memory trade has suffered a severe sell-off, with investors reducing exposure to high-growth chip and storage names. Western Digital has retreated substantially from its June high, increasing concerns that its valuation may have outpaced near-term fundamentals. The Memory Crash Has 4 Big Stocks Down 30% or More
• Negative Sentiment: Advances in Chinese AI technology and a strong listing by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies are fueling concerns about future competition and whether current supply constraints will persist. Stocks Extend Slide Amid China’s AI Challenge
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 shares for approximately $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale reduced her position by only 0.7% and is therefore a limited bearish signal.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $462.04 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $565.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $404.28. The stock has a market cap of $159.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.58 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $69.30 and a one year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

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.