OneAscent Financial Services LLC Makes New $1.60 Million Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,503 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 229.7% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Mizuho set a $590.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their position. 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 three months, insiders sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 1.5%

WDC stock opened at $469.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.42 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $554.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $433.12.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

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.