Banco BTG Pactual S.A. Reduces Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 93.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,488 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 22,617 shares during the period. Banco BTG Pactual S.A.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. BOKF NA boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 100.0% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 312 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $529.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $182.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $54.60 and a 1-year high of $602.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $441.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $306.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital and related memory stocks rebounded as investors rotated back into the group following SK Hynix’s capacity plan, which helped sentiment across the storage space. SanDisk Jumps 14%, Western Digital Climbs 6% as Memory Stocks Rebound on SK Hynix’s Capacity Plan
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on WDC, with recent price target increases from Mizuho and Citi reinforcing expectations for continued AI-driven storage demand and stronger earnings estimates. Mizuho and Citi Raise Western Digital (WDC) Price Targets
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s stock has also benefited from ongoing investor optimism around AI storage demand, pricing gains, and its more focused HDD-centric business mix. Western Digital Stock Skyrockets 185% YTD: Is More Growth on the Horizon?
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital announced a privately negotiated share exchange involving SanDisk investors, which may affect the company’s capital structure but is not clearly a direct earnings driver yet. Western Digital Announces Sandisk Share Exchange With Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent broker commentary has kept WDC at a “Moderate Buy,” supporting the stock but largely confirming already positive sentiment rather than adding a new catalyst. Western Digital Corporation Receives Consensus Rating of Moderate Buy from Brokerages

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $433.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.