Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stake in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 35.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,500 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,700 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $23,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avion Wealth lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 207.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.83.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to highlight Western Digital’s role in the AI storage buildout, arguing that surging demand for enterprise SSDs and NAND flash could support a longer-lasting pricing upcycle. Recent coverage also points to raised fair-value estimates and higher price targets as expectations for earnings power improve. Why The Western Digital (WDC) Story Is Shifting On New Earnings And AI Storage Expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s inclusion in the 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index North America may provide an incremental technical boost from index-related buying and reinforces improving investor perception around the company. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Included in 2026 S&P Dow Jones Best-in-Class Index North America
• Positive Sentiment: A fresh thesis piece framed Western Digital as a beneficiary of a broader “AI rotation” into data storage, with tight NAND supply and rising enterprise demand seen as catalysts for margin and revenue expansion. The Great AI Rotation: Cashing In on Data
• Neutral Sentiment: One valuation-focused article says the stock has cooled after a strong run, with recent price action taking a breather even as longer-term momentum remains strong. This suggests some investors may be pausing to reassess whether the rally has gone too far. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check After Strong 1-Year Return And Recent Share Price Cooldown
• Negative Sentiment: Sector weakness also pressured Western Digital, with reports that memory and storage stocks fell as investors worried about AI infrastructure capacity, supply-chain constraints, and a broader rotation out of the group ahead of Nvidia’s earnings. Micron, Seagate, Western Digital Sink On Capacity Crunch Fears
• Negative Sentiment: Another report said Western Digital slid alongside Seagate as the AI infrastructure rally was tested, indicating near-term profit-taking and weaker sentiment across the memory complex. Seagate Stock And Western Digital Slide Further As AI Infrastructure Rally Tested

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $459.62 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $49.00 and a 1-year high of $525.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $158.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.44 and a beta of 2.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $364.30 and its 200 day moving average is $264.52.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

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.