Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells $115,480.82 in Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 214 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total transaction of $115,480.82. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,221,431.91. The trade was a 0.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of WDC stock opened at $531.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $396.29 and its 200 day moving average is $281.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $553.50.

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 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 last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’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. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 9.2% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.