Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 6.4% Following Insider Selling

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price was down 6.4% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $348.23 and last traded at $354.19. 11,579,204 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 34% from the average daily volume of 8,645,324 shares. The stock had previously closed at $378.51.

Specifically, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total value of $306,660.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,392,640. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $676.00 to $643.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $609.56.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 revenue of $4.38 billion, up 55% year over year, while GAAP net income reached $1.78 billion and diluted EPS was $4.63. Non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 exceeded analyst expectations by approximately 13%. Western Digital surprises with strong Q3 but inventory levels increase
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued strong fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of about $5.1 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $5.80, both ahead of Wall Street expectations. Gross margin also improved substantially to 57.8% from 43.5% a year earlier. Western Digital Q1 Revenue Climbs 55% to $4.38 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital raised its quarterly dividend 17% to $0.175 per share, while reporting $1.38 billion in free cash flow. The results reinforce the view that AI, cloud, and high-capacity storage demand are supporting pricing and profitability. Western Digital Profit Grows on Data Storage Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock initially gained after the report but failed to hold those gains as investors focused on a severe technology and AI-sector selloff. Western Digital had already fallen sharply from its June peak, making the market particularly sensitive to guidance quality and forward demand signals. Western Digital beats earnings estimates, but AI selloff erases initial gains
• Negative Sentiment: Reports noted rising inventory levels, raising concerns that supply growth or weaker demand could eventually pressure pricing despite the upbeat near-term outlook. Analysts have also trimmed some fair-value estimates because of execution, HAMR technology-transition, and competitive-supply risks. Western Digital fair value trimmed as analysts weigh HDD demand and HAMR risks

Western Digital Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $132.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $438.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.05.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.11 by $0.53. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $885,565,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth $350,403,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $627,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company 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.