Legal & General Group Plc Purchases New Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,509,592 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,602,927,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings of $3.56 per share, revenue of $3.75 billion and year-over-year revenue growth of approximately 44%. Analysts say accelerating AI and cloud-storage demand, improving margins and the planned ramp of 40TB drives and HAMR technology support the company’s fiscal 2027 outlook. WDC’s Strong Q4 Raises the Stakes for Its Fiscal 2027 Product Ramp
• Positive Sentiment: Some commentary continues to view WDC as attractively positioned for growth because AI data centers require increasing storage capacity. However, the bullish case depends on successful product execution and sustained cloud spending. Western Digital: Time To Jump In Before Beast Mode Arrives Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital will participate in Citi’s 2026 Global TMT Conference on September 9. Management’s presentation could provide additional commentary on demand, pricing and the fiscal 2027 product ramp, but the announcement itself contains no new financial guidance. WD to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Cynthia L. Tregillis sold a combined 919 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sales represent a small reduction in her holdings and are less significant as a bearish signal because they were scheduled in advance. SEC insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Investors have rotated out of high-performing AI-chip and memory names ahead of Nvidia’s earnings report, weighing on WDC along with Micron and Seagate even though underlying storage demand remains firm. Micron, Seagate, Western Digital, Semtech, and Penguin Solutions Shares Are Falling
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Apple may source memory chips from Chinese suppliers have intensified concerns about competition and future pricing across the memory industry. WDC’s premium valuation, concentration in cloud customers and the need to execute its product ramp add to investor caution. Memory Stocks Slide on Report Apple May Source Chinese Chips

Western Digital Trading Down 5.2%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $435.38 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $547.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $435.48. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $76.70 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,598 shares of company stock valued at $11,868,944. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.