Evolve Private Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 5,235 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,235 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,344,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 71.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after acquiring an additional 96,078 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $193,303,000 after acquiring an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors boosted 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 last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Western Digital by 62.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 342,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,040,000 after purchasing an additional 131,247 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $459.44 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $74.57 and a twelve month high of $799.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $552.24 and a 200-day moving average of $433.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.