Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 8,882 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,532 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,882 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $24,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. BOKF NA lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 100.0% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 312 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% 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 have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $433.29.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Mizuho reiterated a bullish view on Western Digital, saying AI-driven storage demand continues to show no signs of slowing, which supports the long-term revenue outlook for the company. Mizuho doubles down on WDC stock as AI storage demand shows no signs of slowing down
• Positive Sentiment: Citi also remained bullish on Western Digital, suggesting analysts still see upside potential despite the stock’s recent volatility. Citi Remains Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC) – Here’s Why
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has been receiving elevated investor attention, with multiple articles noting that WDC is a trending stock and worth watching, but these pieces do not point to a specific new catalyst. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: One market commentary said WDC could deserve attention, reflecting continued interest in the stock rather than a clear operational update. Here's Why We Think Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Might Deserve Your Attention Today
• Negative Sentiment: WDC fell more sharply than the broader market in the latest session, as memory and storage names came under pressure alongside peers such as Micron, indicating sector-wide risk-off sentiment was a key driver of the decline. Western Digital (WDC) Falls More Steeply Than Broader Market: What Investors Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: Broader semiconductor and memory stocks sold off after geopolitical headlines raised macro uncertainty, and Western Digital was caught up in that move. Skyworks Solutions, Western Digital, and Teradyne Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know

Western Digital Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $490.09 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $436.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.60 and a 12-month high of $602.54.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th 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 Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

About Western Digital

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.