Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,207 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,242,000. Western Digital accounts for approximately 1.2% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% in the second quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $459.44 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $552.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $433.31. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $74.57 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The firm has a market cap of $158.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

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.