Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Sells $396,390.00 in Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.0%

NASDAQ WDC traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $531.21. The stock had a trading volume of 8,381,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,969,320. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $553.50. The stock 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 $391.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.27.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.99%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.50.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.