Fulton Bank N.A. Takes Position in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,566 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,000,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. BOKF NA boosted its stake in Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven storage demand is supporting the sector. A reported deepening memory shortage and a neocloud company’s results highlighted continued spending on AI infrastructure, lifting expectations for demand for Western Digital’s hard-disk drives and NAND products. Memory shortage article
• Positive Sentiment: Higher-capacity drives are improving margins. Favorable pricing, lower costs, and new ePMR products are helping Western Digital expand margins, while demand for high-capacity drives remains strong. Western Digital margin article
• Positive Sentiment: Cash flow provides a fundamental catalyst. Western Digital generated approximately $3.5 billion in fiscal 2026 free cash flow, driven by stronger demand, pricing, and high-capacity drives. Investors are now assessing whether that momentum can continue into fiscal 2027. Western Digital free cash flow article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation and momentum views remain supportive. One valuation update raised Western Digital’s estimated fair value from $584.79 to $662.13, while momentum screens continued to identify WDC as a potential 2026 outperformer. Western Digital fair value article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains broadly favorable, with the average brokerage recommendation equivalent to “Buy,” although the reliability of consensus ratings can be limited when expectations are already optimistic. Western Digital analyst recommendations
• Negative Sentiment: The main risks are execution during technology transitions and uncertainty over how long elevated storage pricing and AI-related demand will translate into higher margins. Investors are also questioning whether fiscal 2026’s exceptional cash-flow growth is sustainable.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $454.10 on Thursday. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The company has a market cap of $156.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 2.14. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $558.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $423.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 18.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.48%.

Western Digital 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.