Advisors Preferred LLC Invests $1.50 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 5,554 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,502,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $483,977,000 after purchasing an additional 159,167 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a rebound in memory and storage stocks after Monday’s sector-wide drop tied to SK Hynix volatility and broader chip-market pressure. SK Hynix ADR Soars 19% as Leveraged ETFs Launch, Lifting Micron, SanDisk, Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent analyst notes are bullish on WDC, with commentary citing strong demand, improving pricing, and the possibility of meaningful upside from current levels. Why Analysts Are Betting Western Digital Stock Can Gain Another 30% from Here
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is in focus, and Wall Street is expecting a strong year-over-year profit jump, which could support the stock if results and guidance beat expectations. Western Digital’s Quarterly Earnings Preview: What You Need to Know
• Neutral Sentiment: The company has confirmed it will report fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results on August 5, keeping earnings-related speculation elevated in the near term. WD to Announce Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Results on August 5, 2026
• Negative Sentiment: WDC remains sensitive to swings in the AI-memory trade, and the stock was recently hit by a sharp sector pullback sparked by SK Hynix’s weak outlook and broader chip-market jitters. SK Hynix’s record plunge drags down global chip stocks

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on WDC. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $560.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $563.32 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $560.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $379.58. Western Digital Corporation has a 12-month low of $65.79 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.63 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was 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 directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.