Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 27,156 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 45.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 86,613 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,156 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $14,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Avion Wealth raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% 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. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from strong investor enthusiasm around AI-driven storage demand, with recent articles highlighting new AI-focused storage technologies, improved analyst valuation estimates, and expectations for firmer HDD and memory pricing. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, helping push the stock to fresh highs as investors positioned ahead of the company’s Computex-related AI announcements. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
• Positive Sentiment: The company has also been cleaning up its balance sheet and making more AI-related moves, which some investors view as supporting additional upside. Western Digital Could Be Halfway Through Retiring 2028 Convertible Debt. What It Means for the Stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings were strong, with the company beating estimates and issuing upbeat guidance, but the stock still saw a short-term dip as some traders appeared to take profits after a big run. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips 3% Despite Strong Earnings—Should Investors Buy the Pullback?
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that the broader market and semiconductor stocks have been choppy, with Broadcom’s cautious AI outlook pressuring memory names like Western Digital even after the company’s strong news flow. MU, SNDK, WDC: Memory Stocks Dip As Broadcom’s Forecast Dampens AI Sentiment, Retail Turns Buyer
• Negative Sentiment: One near-term headwind is profit-taking after Western Digital’s rapid run-up to all-time highs, which has led to some price weakness despite the longer-term bullish narrative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WDC. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.33.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $511.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $176.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.60 and a 52 week high of $602.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $422.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

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.