Plato Investment Management Ltd Invests $2.08 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,038 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,084,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during 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 buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth approximately $221,800,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 175.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,232,071 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $78,347,000 after buying an additional 784,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $480.09 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $43.88 and a 1-year high of $483.87. The company has a market cap of $165.48 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $325.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $242.16.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. 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 $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.99%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WDC. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $395.83.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain upbeat on Western Digital, with firms lifting price targets and Zacks upgrading the stock to Strong Buy, signaling rising confidence in demand trends and earnings momentum. Zacks Research upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage is highlighting Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI memory and data-center storage supercycle, with demand for high-capacity storage solutions expected to stay elevated. Motley Fool article
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings beat, raised guidance, and multiple target increases from analysts continue to support the stock’s sharp year-to-date gain and keep momentum investors engaged. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital also announced progress on simplifying its structure by unwinding its remaining Sandisk stake through share swaps and future distributions, which may help investors better value WDC as a more focused storage pure play. Yahoo Finance share swap article

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.