First Trust Advisors LP Has $100.05 Million Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 41.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 369,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 257,290 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.11% of Western Digital worth $100,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 231.1% during the first quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 20,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,605,000 after acquiring an additional 14,462 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $22,476,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 77.1% in the 1st quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 31,429 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,501,000 after buying an additional 13,686 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 19.5% in the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 20,683 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 13.8% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 68,962 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $18,654,000 after buying an additional 8,342 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $519.80 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $564.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $397.06. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $66.51 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Memory-chip peers such as Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix were reported surging on continued enthusiasm for AI infrastructure spending and tight memory supply, which can lift sentiment for Western Digital as well. Article: Why Micron, Sandisk, and SK Hynix Are Surging—And How to Play It
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Western Digital’s AI storage exposure and relatively stronger financial footing versus peers like Super Micro, reinforcing the stock’s appeal as an AI hardware play. Article: WDC vs. SMCI: Which AI Hardware Stock is the Smarter Investment Now?
• Positive Sentiment: A valuation piece argued that Western Digital still looks attractive on earnings and especially cheap on a cash-flow basis, suggesting the recent rally may have room to continue if AI demand remains strong. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Reasonable On Earnings While Cash Flow Looks Cheap
• Neutral Sentiment: One report said Western Digital reentered merger-focused discussion, but it did not provide a concrete transaction update, so the near-term stock impact is unclear. Article: Western Digital (WDC) Reenters Merger Focus, Where Does Fair Value Sit?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position reported, which does not appear to be a major driver of the stock today.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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 $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 28,959 shares of company stock worth $12,631,666 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.