Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $96.97 Million Stock Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 807,641 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,514 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $96,965,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 175.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after acquiring an additional 784,645 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 338.3% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 936,313 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $59,915,000 after purchasing an additional 722,702 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 17.1% during the second quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. now owns 3,735,296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $239,022,000 after purchasing an additional 545,500 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.9%

Western Digital stock opened at $214.00 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $221.23. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $172.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $121.58. The company has a market cap of $73.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven storage demand is cited as the main fundamental driver behind WDC’s recent surge — Zacks highlights an 86.5% three‑month jump as AI workloads boost margins and cash returns, supporting investor optimism about continued secular demand for high-capacity storage. WDC Skyrockets 87% in 3 Months
• Positive Sentiment: Inclusion/refresh of the Nasdaq-100 added data-storage names including WDC, which can bring incremental passive inflows and greater institutional visibility — a technical tailwind for the stock. Tech Wreck or Valuation Reset?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage is constructive: consensus ratings skew toward “buy” (MarketBeat/Maketbeat-sourced consensus shows a moderate‑buy tilt), which supports demand from discretionary and model-driven buyers. Analysts Give Moderate Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming catalyst: WDC will report FYQ2 results on Jan 29 — results and updated guidance will likely drive short-term volatility and could reinforce the recent price move. Earnings Date Announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate actions nearby: the SanDisk spin‑off has posted outsized gains since separation, drawing attention to WDC’s capital‑allocation decisions and how value may be realized through portfolio moves (this is informative but not an immediate cash inflow to WDC). Up 948%, Should You Buy Sandisk?
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting appears anomalous and currently shows no clear build in short interest; as reported figures are inconsistent, short‑squeeze risk or pressure is not evident as a driver right now.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/market risk: MarketBeat warns that Fed uncertainty and a potential rotation away from high‑growth tech could reprice duration‑sensitive names — if broader tech sentiment reverses, WDC could face pullbacks despite sector‑specific tailwinds. Tech Wreck or Valuation Reset?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $105.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.