13,385 Shares in Western Digital Corporation $WDC Purchased by United Capital Financial Advisors LLC

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,385 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,549,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on WDC shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho set a $590.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s AI- and cloud-storage growth thesis remains intact. Industry momentum from AI infrastructure, cloud computing, the Internet of Things and automotive applications is supporting expectations for continued demand. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: A recent exchange of approximately $191 million of 3% convertible notes due 2028 is viewed as constructive liability management because it can reduce debt, although issuing shares may create some dilution. What’s Going on With Western Digital Stock on Wednesday?
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital recently reported revenue growth of 44% year over year to $3.75 billion and earnings of $3.56 per share, exceeding estimates. Its next-quarter earnings guidance of $3.85 to $4.15 per share also supports the bullish fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical and analyst indicators remain favorable: a recent hammer chart pattern suggested potential support, while upward earnings-estimate revisions and a bullish Wall Street consensus point to possible longer-term recovery. Western Digital May Find a Bottom Soon

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 26,117 shares of company stock worth $12,053,353 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $462.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $159.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $532.72 and its 200-day moving average is $439.49. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $77.90 and a one year high of $799.87.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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