Waverly Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 27.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,615 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 342,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,040,000 after purchasing an additional 131,247 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks rallied across the market, with the Roundhill Memory ETF and semiconductor indexes also advancing. Western Digital participated in the sector-wide rebound as investors returned to AI and data-center hardware names. Memory Stocks Surge. SanDisk Tops S&P 500 Gainers
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary argued that a semiconductor oversupply cycle is unlikely before 2028 because the physical infrastructure needed to create excess capacity is not yet available. That view supports continued pricing power and demand for memory and storage products. Top Chip Analyst on Semiconductor Oversupply
• Positive Sentiment: Strong demand for hard drives and tighter global supply expectations are improving the outlook for Western Digital’s revenue, margins and cash generation. Positive results from Seagate also boosted confidence in Western Digital as a storage-industry peer. Why Is Western Digital Stock Surging?
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is the next major catalyst. Investors will assess whether AI-driven demand, pricing and supply constraints are translating into higher margins and favorable guidance; Wall Street currently expects year-over-year earnings growth. Western Digital Reports Next Week
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns remain about competition from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies following its strong market debut, while the broader memory trade has experienced sharp volatility. These factors could pressure valuations if investors begin to expect supply growth or weaker pricing.
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 shares worth approximately $428,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The sale represented only 0.70% of her holdings, making it a limited negative signal. Western Digital Insider Sale

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. 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 sold 9,767 shares of company stock valued at $4,822,807 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $533.04 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $566.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $406.62. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $73.14 and a one year high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $183.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.