Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 266,834 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $170,432,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,602,927,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. Finally, Anther Capital Ltd bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $901,601,000. 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: Western Digital disclosed exchange agreements covering approximately $191 million of its 3.00% convertible notes due 2028. The transaction will provide holders with cash and shares, potentially reducing debt, although the stock component could create some dilution. The exchanges are expected to close on or after September 2. Western Digital convertible notes article
• Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to see support from AI, cloud and data-center demand. Western Digital recently reported quarterly revenue of $3.75 billion, up 43.8% year over year, and non-GAAP EPS of $3.56 versus the $3.31 consensus. Management’s next-quarter outlook also points to continued strong growth. Western Digital debt exchange and AI demand analysis
• Positive Sentiment: A hammer chart pattern suggests technical support after the stock’s recent decline, while upward earnings-estimate revisions may improve the likelihood of a near-term rebound. Western Digital bottoming pattern article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains broadly favorable, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a median recent price target of approximately $597.50. However, targets vary widely, reflecting uncertainty around valuation and execution.
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital is assessing potential effects from new U.S. sanctions related to Iran, including possible compliance costs, supply-chain disruptions and impacts on contract manufacturing or shipments. Western Digital Iran sanctions exposure article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider activity has been heavily weighted toward sales, including transactions by executives and directors. The reported sales were made under pre-arranged trading plans, reducing their significance, but they remain a potential overhang for sentiment.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader caution toward highly valued AI and memory stocks, ahead of Nvidia’s earnings, and concerns about potential Chinese memory competition could pressure sector valuations and future pricing.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,634 shares of company stock valued at $11,357,073. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $468.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $161.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $538.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $438.22. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $77.90 and a 12-month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.66 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

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.