Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $226.31 Million Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 5.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 836,666 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 50,393 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $226,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. BOKF NA grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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 value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory and storage shares rebounded sharply, lifting Western Digital along with peers like Micron, Seagate, and SanDisk as the recent selloff reversed and sentiment improved across the sector. Western Digital and Seagate Surge 7%, Micron and Sandisk Climb 6% as Memory Selloff Reverses
• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s announced $250 billion investment and the broader AI infrastructure trade are boosting confidence in storage and semiconductor names, with Western Digital viewed as a beneficiary of rising data center and memory demand. Western Digital Stock Lifts Following Micron’s $250 Billion Investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remain constructive on WDC, citing stronger revenue growth, margin expansion, upbeat guidance, and improving visibility in AI-related storage demand. Micron & One AI Infrastructure Stock to Buy Now for Big Upside
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital is accelerating its HAMR roadmap and signing long-term customer deals to meet AI-driven storage demand, which supports the growth story but is still a longer-term catalyst. Will Western Digital’s HAMR Push Accelerate Future Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its price target on WDC to $500 while keeping a neutral rating, reinforcing that Wall Street sees value but is not uniformly bullish at current levels. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $500.00 at Susquehanna
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent coverage flags valuation risk, noting the stock has already had a huge run and may be expensive on earnings despite optimistic AI-storage expectations. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings

Western Digital Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $578.05 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $64.23 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $552.50 and a 200-day moving average of $371.36. The company has a market capitalization of $199.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.51 and a beta of 2.11.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Susquehanna upped their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Mizuho boosted their price target on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Fox Advisors cut Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $502.12.

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.