Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells $150,491.88 in Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 308 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.61, for a total transaction of $150,491.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 118,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,721,942.35. This trade represents a 0.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $553.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $396.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The company’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. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 presently 2.99%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.50.

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.