Wealth Effects LLC Invests $1.02 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Wealth Effects LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,600 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,022,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WDC. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 1.8% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in 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 raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WDC. TD Cowen upped their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital 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 transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the transaction, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $508.80 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.14 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $556.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.77.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders 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 is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

About Western Digital

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.