Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab Invests $5.68 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 8,891 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,679,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $180,314,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,229,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,339,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related 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 transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from improving earnings expectations, stronger storage pricing, and AI-driven cloud demand. Recent coverage characterized the company as a momentum candidate, while its latest results exceeded analyst estimates and management provided a strong fiscal 2027 outlook. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain constructive on the broader memory and storage cycle, citing supply constraints, rising demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, and potential for continued earnings growth. Jim Cramer on Memory and Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s recent rally was supported by bullish commentary about a potential memory bottleneck and by optimism surrounding the company’s margins and forecast-beating outlook. Those gains have left WDC and its peers more sensitive to profit-taking and changes in investor sentiment. Western Digital Stock Jumps as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are pressuring richly valued AI and semiconductor-related shares, encouraging investors to rotate away from the extended memory trade. Western Digital is declining alongside Micron and SanDisk despite the absence of a company-specific negative announcement. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: A Wall Street Journal report concerning previously undisclosed AI spending commitments appears to have intensified concerns about AI-related valuations and corporate spending, weighing on the entire memory and storage group. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Down

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $496.16 on Wednesday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $73.14 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $556.08 and a 200-day moving average of $430.29.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 payout ratio is 2.48%.

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.