Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan Buys 5,875 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan grew its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,996 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,875 shares during the quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $65,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,602,927,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $221,800,000. Finally, Anther Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $901,601,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s long-term outlook remains supported by demand for AI infrastructure, cloud computing, enterprise storage, automotive systems and other data-intensive applications. Analysts at Zacks continue to identify WDC as a potential beneficiary of strong memory and storage demand, particularly following Nvidia’s solid results. 4 High-Flying Memory and Storage Giants
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest quarterly results provide fundamental support: revenue rose 43.8% year over year to $3.75 billion, while earnings of $3.56 per share exceeded expectations. Guidance for $3.85 to $4.15 in next-quarter EPS also remains constructive.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street’s consensus remains bullish, with a “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target above the current trading level. Several firms have cited continued AI and storage demand as reasons for further upside. Wall Street’s Bullish Views on WDC
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold a small portion of her holdings under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The transactions modestly reduce her position but do not necessarily signal deteriorating confidence. Cynthia Tregillis Insider Transactions
• Negative Sentiment: Memory and storage stocks sold off even after Nvidia reported strong results, suggesting investors are taking profits from an extended AI trade and differentiating among suppliers. Western Digital’s underperformance versus peers has amplified concern that expectations or valuation may have become too aggressive. Why Memory Stocks Fell Despite Nvidia’s Results

Western Digital Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $459.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $526.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $439.63. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $77.90 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were 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 $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at $53,650,465.80. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 26,117 shares of company stock worth $12,053,353 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.