Richmond Investment Services LLC Makes New $278,000 Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Richmond Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,029 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 267.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $550.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85 and a beta of 2.11. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $64.16 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $368.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The business’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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on WDC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $502.12.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Research chatter turned more constructive after Melius Research was reported as bullish on Western Digital, reinforcing the view that the company is a beneficiary of AI storage demand. Melius Research is Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted strong fundamentals and valuation support, including comments that WDC looks inexpensive on cash flow, has beaten earnings recently, and continues to benefit from rising AI-related storage demand. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst expectations remain generally favorable, with multiple firms maintaining buy or outperform ratings and recent price targets clustered above current levels, including a fresh upgrade in target from Susquehanna. Western Digital had its price target raised by Susquehanna
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-wide headlines about the Nasdaq, Fed minutes, and broader tech rotation are adding noise to trading, but these are not specific to Western Digital’s fundamentals. Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Swings To Score A Win; Fed Minutes Show Split On Direction
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are still wary after the recent memory-chip selloff tied to Samsung results, which pressured WDC and peers earlier in the week and could keep sentiment choppy. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock

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.