Simplify Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,639 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Simplify Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 1,639 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,347 shares of company stock valued at $17,974,293. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $484.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $166.92 billion, a PE ratio of 28.91 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $525.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $377.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.52.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

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.