Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 8,514 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,514 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,438,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. BOKF NA lifted its stake in 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 acquired a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $536.01 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $556.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $428.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Improving fundamentals supported the move higher. Expanding margins and a forecast-beating outlook gave Western Digital-specific support beyond the broader storage-sector rally. The company recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, while revenue grew sharply year over year. Western Digital Stock Jumps Over 6% as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst earnings estimates are being revised upward. Recent estimate revisions suggest expectations for Western Digital’s earnings are improving, potentially supporting additional near-term share-price momentum. Can Western Digital Run Higher on Rising Earnings Estimates?
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand and pricing tailwinds remain key catalysts. Western Digital is entering fiscal 2027 with expectations for strong end-market demand, better pricing, cloud growth tied to artificial intelligence, and a recovery in its hard-disk-drive business. Can Strong End Markets and Pricing Tailwinds Keep WDC’s Momentum Alive?
• Positive Sentiment: A broad memory-sector rally lifted sentiment. Elon Musk’s comments about a potential memory bottleneck, along with strong long-term expectations for peer SanDisk, helped boost storage and memory stocks, including WDC. Political developments cited by market coverage also contributed to the positive tone. SanDisk Rallies, Western Digital Rises, and Micron Gains as Elon Musk Flags a Memory Bottleneck
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon discounted a WD-branded 5TB My Passport portable hard drive. The promotion may support consumer visibility but is unlikely to materially affect Western Digital’s investment outlook. Amazon Clears Out WD 5TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street Zen lowered its rating on Western Digital, providing a counterpoint to the more optimistic earnings and industry-demand signals. Western Digital Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

About Western Digital

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.