Friedenthal Financial Invests $1.08 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,998 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,081,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Weiss Ratings upgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $450.46.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Micron’s earnings beat and guidance are lifting memory stocks, including Western Digital, on renewed optimism for the storage cycle.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to view Western Digital favorably, with recent price targets clustering well above the broader market’s expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term articles highlighted stronger customer buying patterns and contract shifts that could support a higher valuation for WDC. The Quiet Contract Shift Before Western Digital Stock’s Loud Re-Rating

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $641.73 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $507.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $339.36. The stock has a market cap of $221.19 billion, a PE ratio of 38.31 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $62.13 and a one year high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

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.