Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC Takes $1.65 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,580 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,648,000. Western Digital comprises about 0.4% of Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Ares Financial Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% 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. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% 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 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $552.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $434.46. The firm has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $74.57 and a twelve month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

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.