4,479 Western Digital Corporation $WDC Shares Sold by China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 19,999 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 4,479 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $9,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $885,565,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 15.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,146,133 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $310,018,000 after purchasing an additional 153,600 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $590.00 to $770.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $740.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $591.04.

Western Digital Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $395.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $148.01 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $423.52 and a 200 day moving average of $415.98. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $132.43 and a 52 week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 55.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.33%.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s fiscal first-quarter results showed strong momentum: revenue rose 55.5% year over year, while the company benefited from higher pricing, favorable product mix and growing demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives used in AI data centers. WDC Q1 Earnings Call Highlights Pricing Strength and Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial commentators continue to identify substantial upside potential after the recent selloff. Zacks added WDC to its Rank #1 Strong Buy list, while two Wall Street firms reportedly view the decline as an attractive entry point. New Strong Buy Stocks for October 28th
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate are both benefiting from AI-related storage expansion, with HDD revenue growing faster than unit shipments. However, comparisons favor Seagate on several measures, including return on equity, forward valuation and free-cash-flow generation, potentially limiting enthusiasm for WDC relative to its main rival. Western Digital vs. Seagate: Best AI Stock to Buy After Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: A broader pullback in memory and semiconductor stocks followed disappointing signals from Samsung, cooling the sector rally ahead of Sandisk’s earnings. Western Digital was caught in this industry-wide weakness, despite having different product exposure from memory-chip makers. Memory Sector Pullback
• Negative Sentiment: A reported Toshiba supply rumor previously triggered concern about future drive availability and competitive conditions. That overhang continues to weigh on sentiment even though Western Digital delivered record results and raised guidance. Western Digital Supply Concerns and Analyst Outlook

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.