PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Increases Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 57,406 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,709 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $6,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 175.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Western Digital by 338.3% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $59,915,000 after acquiring an additional 722,702 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Monetizing SanDisk stake and swapping shares for debt should accelerate deleveraging and improve financial flexibility — a clear balance-sheet positive that investors have cheered. Western Digital to sell $3.17 billion stake in Sandisk
• Positive Sentiment: Management says 2026 hard-drive production is sold out amid surging demand from AI data centers — supports revenue visibility and pricing power for enterprise / hyperscale HDDs. Western Digital Sold Out All 2026 Hard Drive Production as AI Centers Scramble
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks added WDC to its Rank #1 (Strong Buy) growth list, a signal that some quant/retail models see further upside. Best Growth Stocks to Buy for February 19th
• Positive Sentiment: Conversion of Series A preferred shares simplifies capital structure (reduces complexity for investors and may lower future financing friction). Western Digital Converts Preferred Shares, Simplifying Capital Structure
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail product promotions (e.g., deeply discounted 16TB Elements external drive) boost consumer-channel sales but are unlikely to move the stock materially relative to enterprise AI demand. WD’s 16TB Elements External Hard Drive Delivers Maximum Storage at Minimum Cost
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage pieces and valuation checks highlight the recent multi-period rally; useful context but not a direct catalyst. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports indicate the Sandisk stake sale is being executed via a secondary offering and some shares will be exchanged for debt — preserves Sandisk operations (SanDisk not raising proceeds) while giving WDC liquidity. Discount and structure details may matter to timing. Sandisk (SNDK) Stock: Western Digital Dumps $3.17 Billion Position at a Discount
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling (many executives have sold shares recently) and some large institutional position reductions create potential perception risk and could weigh on sentiment. Western Digital climbs as Sandisk stake sale boosts debt-reduction outlook
• Negative Sentiment: The Sandisk secondary was priced at a discount and WDC will retain only part of its stake — while the move reduces debt, the discounted sale and large offering can create short-term selling pressure. Western Digital to sell ~$3.2B of SanDisk stock in secondary deal
• Negative Sentiment: Median analyst price target coverage shows dispersion and a median below some recent levels — implies upside is not unanimous and could limit near-term gains. Analyst ratings and price targets

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 70,522 shares of company stock valued at $17,661,708 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 4.0%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $284.67 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $225.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.96. The stock has a market cap of $96.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $28.83 and a 12 month high of $309.90.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

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.