GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $1.79 Million Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,811 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,795,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Western Digital by 71.4% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. 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, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $508.80 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $556.33 and a 200 day moving average of $426.77. The company has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.14 and a 12-month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

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.