Cibc World Market Inc. Makes New Investment in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 79,283 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,640,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 24,679 shares of company stock valued at $11,451,605 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $459.44 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $552.24 and a 200 day moving average of $434.46. Western Digital Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.57 and a 12 month high of $799.87.

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

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WDC. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Mizuho set a $590.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.