Deutsche Bank AG Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,386,468 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $885,565,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Western Digital by 71.4% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Mizuho set a $590.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Summit Insights cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Up 5.3%

WDC stock opened at $536.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $184.75 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $73.14 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $556.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $428.76.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Improving fundamentals supported the move higher. Expanding margins and a forecast-beating outlook gave Western Digital-specific support beyond the broader storage-sector rally. The company recently exceeded quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, while revenue grew sharply year over year. Western Digital Stock Jumps Over 6% as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst earnings estimates are being revised upward. Recent estimate revisions suggest expectations for Western Digital’s earnings are improving, potentially supporting additional near-term share-price momentum. Can Western Digital Run Higher on Rising Earnings Estimates?
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand and pricing tailwinds remain key catalysts. Western Digital is entering fiscal 2027 with expectations for strong end-market demand, better pricing, cloud growth tied to artificial intelligence, and a recovery in its hard-disk-drive business. Can Strong End Markets and Pricing Tailwinds Keep WDC’s Momentum Alive?
• Positive Sentiment: A broad memory-sector rally lifted sentiment. Elon Musk’s comments about a potential memory bottleneck, along with strong long-term expectations for peer SanDisk, helped boost storage and memory stocks, including WDC. Political developments cited by market coverage also contributed to the positive tone. SanDisk Rallies, Western Digital Rises, and Micron Gains as Elon Musk Flags a Memory Bottleneck
• Neutral Sentiment: Amazon discounted a WD-branded 5TB My Passport portable hard drive. The promotion may support consumer visibility but is unlikely to materially affect Western Digital’s investment outlook. Amazon Clears Out WD 5TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street Zen lowered its rating on Western Digital, providing a counterpoint to the more optimistic earnings and industry-demand signals. Western Digital Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

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.