QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys 4,647 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 7.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 65,785 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,647 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $17,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. BOKF NA grew its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks still lists Western Digital as a top momentum stock for Q3 2026, pointing to continued investor interest in the memory chip theme and potential upside if the sector rebound continues.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat noted that the memory rally may still be intact despite the broader semiconductor sell-off, which could support Western Digital if demand for memory chips remains strong.
• Positive Sentiment: A review of WD Red Plus 4TB highlighted the product as a reliable NAS hard drive, reinforcing Western Digital’s reputation in storage hardware.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was mentioned alongside other decliners as semiconductor stocks fell on fears that AI-driven chip demand may be cooling, suggesting the stock is being dragged by sector sentiment more than a fresh company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-focused articles cited Western Digital’s bullish Wall Street view and strong earnings surprise history, but they did not introduce new information likely to move the stock immediately.
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion news from Flipkart’s GOAT Sale included WD-branded storage devices, which is supportive for brand visibility but likely not material to the stock today.
• Negative Sentiment: The steep decline in Western Digital shares followed a broader semiconductor pullback, with investors apparently rotating out of high-flying AI and chip names.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles about Sandisk’s huge post-spin-off rally and the possibility of a stock split may remind investors of competition and relative performance within the storage space, but they mainly add narrative pressure rather than direct upside for WDC.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $539.00 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $63.67 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $539.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $359.19.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 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.