Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 55,300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,321,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 71.4% in the 2nd 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 period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 62.1% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 342,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $59,040,000 after purchasing an additional 131,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Trading Down 2.0%

Western Digital stock opened at $459.44 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $74.57 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The stock has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $552.24 and a 200-day moving average of $433.31.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend 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 currently 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

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.