Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Bruce Kiddoo Sells 750 Shares

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Western Digital Price Performance

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

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a 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 is presently 3.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities 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.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Key Western Digital News

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

About Western Digital

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.