Opal Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 2,211 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Opal Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $512,107,000 after buying an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $483,977,000 after buying an additional 159,167 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Trading Down 6.9%

WDC opened at $463.51 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $565.84 and its 200-day moving average is $402.35. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $69.30 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $159.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $560.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% 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 Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,767 shares of company stock worth $13,059,607. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure remains a major long-term growth driver. Western Digital supplies high-capacity hard drives used by cloud providers, and rising AI-generated data is supporting strong demand, tight supply and pricing power. 2 AI Stocks That Beat NVIDIA – and Could Soar Even Higher
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush raised its price targets for Western Digital and Seagate ahead of earnings, while other analysts remain bullish. Morgan Stanley reportedly set a $650 target and Citigroup maintained an $800 target, suggesting analysts view the selloff as potentially excessive if demand and margins remain strong. Seagate and Western Digital in Focus as Wedbush Raises Price Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Investment commentary highlighted Western Digital’s strong hard-drive demand and tighter supply, reinforcing the company’s improving revenue, margins and cash-generation outlook. Western Digital Surged on Strong Hard Drive Demand and Tighter Supply
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s Aug. 5 earnings report is the next major catalyst. Investors will focus on gross margins, pricing, supply conditions and guidance to determine whether AI demand is still translating into higher profitability. Western Digital’s Earnings Will Test Whether Its AI Rally Has More Room
• Negative Sentiment: The broader AI memory trade is unwinding, with investors reducing exposure to chip and storage companies amid a shaky risk appetite and expectations that market volatility could persist. Western Digital has also retreated substantially from its June peak, increasing concern that valuation expectations had moved too far ahead of fundamentals. The AI Memory Trade Is Crumbling
• Negative Sentiment: China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies’ highly successful IPO and advances in Chinese AI technology are raising concerns about future competition and whether the current memory and storage supply shortage can persist. CXMT’s Blockbuster IPO Hits Memory Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares worth approximately $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transaction was small relative to her remaining holdings, so it is a limited but slightly negative sentiment signal.

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.