J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Decreases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG reduced its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 83.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,129 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 26,173 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their price target on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $275.75.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $297.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $275.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.49. The stock has a market cap of $100.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $319.62.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock valued at $24,265,884 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bernstein upgraded WDC to Outperform and doubled its price target to $340, calling the recent selloff an overreaction and labeling WDC an “attractive entry point” — this upgrade is the clearest near-term catalyst lifting the stock. Wall Street Thinks Western Digital Stock Price Will Soar Higher This Year
• Positive Sentiment: JetStor announced an 80PB high-density archive deployment for a government agency using Western Digital’s Ultrastar high-capacity drives — a direct enterprise win that supports demand for WDC’s data-center and archive HDD products. JetStor Delivers 80PB High-Density Archive for Government Agency Using WD’s Trusted High-Capacity Ultrastar Drives
• Positive Sentiment: Memory and storage names led the Nasdaq rally today as investors chased momentum and dip-buying in the sector — that rotation into memory stocks is boosting WDC along with peers. Nasdaq Adds to Its Rally. Memory Stocks Led the Charge.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysis pieces argue the recent algorithm-driven selloff created a buying opportunity for memory/storage names given robust AI/cloud demand — this narrative supports continued inflows into WDC. Memory Wipe: The Great TurboQuant Miscalculation (WDC)
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of SanDisk’s spectacular post-spinoff run highlights strong AI-driven end-market demand for memory products — positive industry context but not a direct business update for WDC. Sandisk’s Path to $1,000 Per Share Runs Through the AI Memory Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad analyst coverage (Zacks, others) reiterates that Wall Street views WDC as a strong AI/storage play — helpful for sentiment but varies across firms and time horizons. Wall Street Analysts Think Western Digital (WDC) Is a Good Investment: Is It?
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying volatility remains: recent algorithmic selling and a cooling in memory stocks earlier this week remind investors that WDC remains exposed to sentiment-driven swings. That risk can reverse gains quickly if headlines or demand outlooks shift. Memory Stocks Were One of 2025’s Hottest Trades. Now They’ve Cooled Off.

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.