AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Invests $34.24 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 285,222 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,244,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 57.7% in the third quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 309 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 3.0% in the third quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Western Digital by 4.2% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 2,993 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $165.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Western Digital to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $207.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total transaction of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 beat: WDC reported $2.13 EPS and $3.02B revenue, topping consensus estimates and showing a meaningful year‑over‑year improvement in profit margins. This is the primary driver behind investor optimism. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Upbeat guidance: Management forecast Q3 revenue above Street estimates, citing sustained demand for HDDs and flash storage from AI servers — reinforcing the view that AI-driven data center demand is driving growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind: Strong results from peer Seagate helped lift WDC ahead of its report as investors priced in continued strength across storage names. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Financial detail & investor materials: The company posted a $1.84B profit and provided a press release, slide deck and conference call — useful for modeling forward margins and capacity plans but not market-moving by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst revisions: Several analysts revised forecasts higher into the print, which supports the bullish thesis but also means expectations are elevated. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and overbought technicals: WDC had run to record highs ahead of earnings, prompting take‑profits and triggering “overbought” warnings that can pressure shares short‑term. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary caution: Media/TV commentators have advised against “chasing” high‑momentum memory/storage names, which can amplify short-term selling after big moves. Read More.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $278.41 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $285.42. The company has a market capitalization of $95.19 billion, a PE ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.28%.

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.