Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Irving Tan Sells 20,000 Shares

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $465.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $160.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $317.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $237.27. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.60 and a 1 year high of $480.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business earned $1.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th 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 Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.2% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Western Digital by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on WDC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho set a $470.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.83.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upbeat guidance — WDC reported a Q3 EPS beat and raised its Q4 FY2026 EPS range, showing strong margin expansion and accelerating revenue tied to AI/data-center demand. Western Digital Stock Surges After Q3 Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness & higher price targets — Multiple outlets and analysts have lifted targets (including big calls toward the $500+ area), reinforcing momentum and giving investors upside conviction. AI Boom Drives Western Digital Toward $500 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend hike & valuation narratives — Coverage highlights a 20% dividend increase and improved valuation metrics tied to AI storage demand, attracting income and growth investors. Western Digital Valuation Check
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind from SanDisk’s breakout — SanDisk (spun off from WDC) has surged, underscoring strong demand for memory/storage in AI data centers and supporting bullish sentiment across storage peers. SanDisk Spun Off From Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor events & conference appearance — WDC presented at Barclays’ conference (transcript available), which helps transparency and investor outreach but is informational rather than catalytic. Barclays Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Media coverage & screening interest — Multiple “is it a buy?” and trending-stock writeups (Zacks, Yahoo) are increasing visibility but don’t by themselves change fundamentals. Is Wall Street Bullish or Bearish on WDC?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan (filing available); while planned sales are common and he retains a large stake, markets often view insider selling as a modest negative signal. Irving Tan SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider sale — Insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares; another small reduction in insider holdings that may be noted by investors. V. Gubbi SEC Filing

Western Digital Company 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.