M&T Bank Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 1,481.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 222,894 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 208,803 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $38,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,329 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 41.5% during the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 293 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 300 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WDC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.79.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays raised its coverage and boosted WDC’s price target to $405 with an Overweight rating, reinforcing institutional buy-side momentum and supporting the rally. Barclays raises price target to $405
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan (and Morgan Stanley commentary) flagged WDC as a top memory/storage idea and JPMorgan raised its price target to $400, adding credibility to the upside case and likely driving buy-side flows. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley Bullish on Western Digital (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage has broadly shifted positive — Evercore and other shops have published bullish notes and the street consensus sits around a “moderate buy,” helping sustain momentum into new highs. Analyst consensus and Evercore note
• Positive Sentiment: Sector bullishness from continued AI-driven memory demand (Micron coverage and broader commentary) is lifting peers like WDC as investors price in stronger near‑term storage demand and higher margins. Stock Market Today, April 22: Micron Technology Surges on Continued Memory Boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital published its FY2025 Annual Sustainability Report emphasizing efficiency and sustainability for AI-scale storage — a message that can help institutional ESG positioning but has limited immediate revenue impact. WD Raises the Bar on Sustainable Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Management will be participating in several investor conferences (Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America) in May–June, which provides additional chances for guidance clarity and analyst engagement — important but informational. WD to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Neutral Sentiment: Memory-focused ETF flows (first dedicated memory ETF reaching ~$1B AUM) show strong demand for the group, which benefits WDC as a large-cap exposure to the theme but may amplify volatility. Memory ETF hits $1B AUM
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks and other commentators note WDC’s rapid run (to a 52-week high) leaves valuation stretched and raises the risk of a pullback if AI demand growth or margin assumptions disappoint. That makes timing entry points and position sizing more important. Is Western Digital Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold After Hitting a 52-Week High?
• Negative Sentiment: Comparative analysis (SanDisk vs Western Digital) highlights NAND-focused peers with different end-market exposure; investors worried about longer-term NAND vs HDD secular trends may prefer competitors, which could cap WDC’s multiple over time. SanDisk vs. Western Digital: Which Memory Storage Stock Is the Better Buy?

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $389.10 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $37.47 and a twelve month high of $402.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $299.66 and its 200 day moving average is $221.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market cap of $131.92 billion, a PE ratio of 39.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.