Danske Bank A S Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 282,305 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $180,314,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 71.4% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 282,156 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 145.8% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,529 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from improving earnings expectations, stronger storage pricing, and AI-driven cloud demand. Recent coverage characterized the company as a momentum candidate, while its latest results exceeded analyst estimates and management provided a strong fiscal 2027 outlook. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain constructive on the broader memory and storage cycle, citing supply constraints, rising demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, and potential for continued earnings growth. Jim Cramer on Memory and Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s recent rally was supported by bullish commentary about a potential memory bottleneck and by optimism surrounding the company’s margins and forecast-beating outlook. Those gains have left WDC and its peers more sensitive to profit-taking and changes in investor sentiment. Western Digital Stock Jumps as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are pressuring richly valued AI and semiconductor-related shares, encouraging investors to rotate away from the extended memory trade. Western Digital is declining alongside Micron and SanDisk despite the absence of a company-specific negative announcement. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: A Wall Street Journal report concerning previously undisclosed AI spending commitments appears to have intensified concerns about AI-related valuations and corporate spending, weighing on the entire memory and storage group. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Down

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $556.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $430.29.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% 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, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% 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 sold a total of 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737 in the last ninety days. Corporate 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.