Wedbush Securities Inc. Sells 2,074 Shares of Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Wedbush Securities Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,435 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after selling 2,074 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $14,286,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $1,602,927,000. ABS Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $1,226,342,000. Anther Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $885,565,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $627,606,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total value of $306,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,392,640. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Western Digital Stock Down 3.0%

WDC traded down $10.52 on Friday, reaching $343.67. The company had a trading volume of 13,914,877 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,494,005. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $121.85 and a 1 year high of $799.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $432.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $479.51.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a return on equity of 56.91% and a net margin of 69.20%. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $668.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $540.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $584.00.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

Western Digital Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.