Insider Selling: Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Sells $8,236,800.00 in Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were 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 directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $463.91 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $325.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.16. The company has a market cap of $159.90 billion, a PE ratio of 27.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.88 and a fifty-two week high of $483.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The company’s revenue 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. 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 boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.83.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are lifting forecasts and price targets on stronger AI/data‑center storage demand; BofA and others raised targets and earnings estimates, supporting higher valuation expectations. BofA Lifts PT on Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upward guidance momentum: recent earnings beats and upward EPS guidance revisions have prompted estimate upgrades from research shops (Zacks, others), underpinning bullish sentiment. Earnings Estimates Rising for WDC
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend increase: WDC raised its quarterly payout to $0.15 (20% hike), signaling confidence and attracting yield‑sensitive and income‑plus‑growth investors, though yield remains small. Western Digital Dividend Increase
• Positive Sentiment: Share-swap to unwind SanDisk stake: WDC is exchanging Sandisk shares for WDC stock as it exits the remaining Sandisk position — a move that simplifies capital structure and may increase WDC’s pure‑play valuation. Western Digital Share Swap
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector supply dynamics: reporting suggests AI-driven memory tightness could keep pricing elevated (benefit to margins), while some consumer SSD discounts appear episodic — supportive but mixed for near‑term revenue mix. AI and Memory Prices
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior executives, including CEO Irving Tan and other officers, have sold shares recently (pre‑arranged plans and filings). Markets often view sizeable or clustered insider sales as a negative near term catalyst. Irving Tan Share Sale

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its position in Western Digital by 1.1% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.