Western Digital Corporation $WDC Position Boosted by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 33.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 282,156 shares during the quarter. Western Digital accounts for about 0.5% of Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $193,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,405 shares of company stock worth $18,575,428 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $396.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $51.17 and a 52 week high of $553.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.50.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

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.