Empirical Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Empirical Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,035 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,300,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from improving earnings expectations, stronger storage pricing, and AI-driven cloud demand. Recent coverage characterized the company as a momentum candidate, while its latest results exceeded analyst estimates and management provided a strong fiscal 2027 outlook. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain constructive on the broader memory and storage cycle, citing supply constraints, rising demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, and potential for continued earnings growth. Jim Cramer on Memory and Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s recent rally was supported by bullish commentary about a potential memory bottleneck and by optimism surrounding the company’s margins and forecast-beating outlook. Those gains have left WDC and its peers more sensitive to profit-taking and changes in investor sentiment. Western Digital Stock Jumps as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are pressuring richly valued AI and semiconductor-related shares, encouraging investors to rotate away from the extended memory trade. Western Digital is declining alongside Micron and SanDisk despite the absence of a company-specific negative announcement. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: A Wall Street Journal report concerning previously undisclosed AI spending commitments appears to have intensified concerns about AI-related valuations and corporate spending, weighing on the entire memory and storage group. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Down

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Down 7.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $556.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $430.29. The firm has a market cap of $171.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Western Digital Company 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.