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

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This 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

NASDAQ WDC opened at $531.21 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $396.29 and its 200-day moving average is $281.78. Western Digital Corporation has a one year low of $51.17 and a one year high of $553.50.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 75.4% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after acquiring an additional 4,068 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.