Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Buys Shares of 8,811 Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,628,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 1.8% in the second quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $888,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. 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 report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $552.24 and its 200-day moving average is $434.46. The company has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.57 and a 12-month high of $799.87.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.