Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Makes New $12.53 Million Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 19,616 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,529,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $469.05 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $74.42 and a 52 week high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $554.31 and a 200-day moving average of $433.12.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital’s 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. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,539 shares in the company, valued at $60,663,290.57. This represents a 0.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

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.