Janus Henderson Group PLC Buys 16,682 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 47.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,727 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,682 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $13,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 88.2% during the 1st quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,499 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 2,108 shares in the last quarter. Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $2,146,000. Strategic Investment Advisors MI raised its stake in Western Digital by 73.5% in the first quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 2,690 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,140 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $221,000. Finally, Opal Capital LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $598,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly optimistic about Western Digital (WDC) after its substantial year-to-date rally. Coverage highlights strong earnings-surprise history, favorable ratings and price targets that generally point to additional upside, although expectations are elevated. Are Wall Street Analysts Predicting Western Digital Stock Will Climb or Sink?
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are looking for WDC to benefit from continued AI-related infrastructure investment and improving enterprise-storage demand. Strong results from rival Seagate have reinforced hopes that Western Digital could deliver a similarly positive earnings update. Should You Buy Western Digital Before Its Earnings Report?
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple previews say the earnings release could either rekindle investor enthusiasm or trigger a sharp reaction, since the stock has already risen significantly. Key issues include management’s outlook for demand, gross margin expansion and the durability of the AI-storage cycle. Sandisk and Western Digital Are Set to Report Earnings Soon
• Negative Sentiment: Recent weakness across memory and storage stocks reflects profit-taking, valuation concerns and caution ahead of earnings. Investors are also monitoring competition in the memory market and broader semiconductor-sector volatility. Western Digital Slides as Investors Appear to De-Risk Ahead of Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Reported insider-trading data shows substantial selling by company executives and other insiders over the past six months, with no reported open-market purchases. While such sales may reflect compensation or diversification, they could add to investor caution at elevated valuations.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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 four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $548.56 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $569.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $413.52. The stock has a market cap of $189.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.75 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $73.14 and a 1 year high of $799.87.

Western Digital 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.