Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: Sterling Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings

Sterling Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 42.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,688 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 6,309 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $3,948,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. James Investment Research Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 8,064 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,170 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $15,074,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.5% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 44,104 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $20,043,000 after purchasing an additional 1,880 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 141.4% in the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 78,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $35,880,000 after purchasing an additional 46,248 shares during the period. Finally, AMG Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 104.3% in the third quarter. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 1,040 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 in the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $343.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $432.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $479.51. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $121.85 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $128.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 56.91% and a net margin of 69.20%. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WDC. Susquehanna set a $405.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $740.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Mizuho set a $490.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.04.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.