Groupe la Francaise Has $4.90 Million Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Groupe la Francaise increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 25,480.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,674 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,644 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $4,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 145.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Win Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,233,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays raised their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 23,210 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,960 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $467.46 on Tuesday. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $91.43 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $502.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.16.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.