Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Buys 11,416 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,491 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,416 shares during the quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $11,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Catalina Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at about $289,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 35.6% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,838 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $2,391,000 after buying an additional 2,322 shares during the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $329,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 5.9% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 25,741 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,963,000 after buying an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $598.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $533.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $355.37. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $63.01 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The firm has a market cap of $206.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.72 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital to $732 from $610 and kept a buy rating, implying meaningful upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Melius Research upgraded Western Digital to strong-buy, reinforcing the bullish analyst view on the stock. Zacks.com
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst fair value estimate was reset higher to $584.79 from $518.26 as models were updated for AI storage demand, HDD pricing, and Western Digital’s product roadmap. Yahoo Finance
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s move is also part of a broader memory-sector pullback, with Micron and SanDisk also declining as the Nasdaq weakens. 247WallSt

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% 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. Insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Western Digital

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.