Entropy Technologies LP Purchases 5,749 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,381 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,749 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $9,713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $793,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $443.71.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target on Western Digital from $530 to $650 and reiterated an overweight rating, signaling more upside potential for the shares. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company announced a Sandisk share exchange with institutional investors, a move that has been interpreted as supportive of the stock and part of a broader capital strategy. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital highlighted AI-focused storage innovation at Computex, reinforcing the market’s view that it is well positioned to benefit from data-center and AI infrastructure spending. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also pointed to strong free cash flow, a larger dividend, and a new $4 billion buyback plan, which supports the investment case by showing confidence in cash generation and shareholder returns. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has been outperforming the broader market over the past year, and brokerages still generally rate the stock a moderate buy, which supports sentiment but is more of a confirmation than a new catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: One recent market note said WDC slipped with the broader market after a hotter-than-expected CPI report revived rate-hike concerns, showing that macro pressure can still weigh on the stock at times. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $562.92 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $54.60 and a 1 year high of $602.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $447.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.91. The company has a market cap of $194.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.61 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.58%.

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.