Insider Selling: Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells 2,475 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Western Digital insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 2,475 shares at an average price of $556.24, totaling about $1.38 million. After the transaction, the insider still held 85,154 shares, a 2.82% reduction in ownership.
• Stock and earnings momentum: Western Digital shares rose 3.1% to $563.10, near their 52-week high, after the company recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations. The company reported $2.72 EPS on $3.34 billion in revenue, both above analyst estimates.
• Dividend and outlook: Western Digital increased its quarterly dividend to $0.15 from $0.13, payable June 17 to shareholders of record on June 5. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with multiple firms raising price targets and the consensus rating at Moderate Buy.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.1%

NASDAQ:WDC traded up $16.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $563.10. The company had a trading volume of 4,990,751 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,904,939. The company has a 50-day moving average of $400.87 and a 200 day moving average of $284.43. The company has a market cap of $194.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 1 year low of $51.88 and a 1 year high of $571.18.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary say Western Digital is positioned to benefit from accelerating demand for storage driven by AI, cloud computing, IoT, and automotive data growth. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent presentations and product announcements reinforce its AI-infrastructure story, including positioning storage as a key layer of AI workloads rather than just compute. WD at Computex 2026: AI Doesn't Just Run on Compute - It Runs on Data
• Positive Sentiment: A separate note says the AI storage trade still has room to run, suggesting traders remain willing to pay up for exposure to the theme. Western Digital: The AI Storage Trade Still Has Room To Run
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital presented at the Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference, which may have helped keep the stock in focus, but the transcript itself did not include a major new catalyst. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Presents at Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: One article took a more cautious stance, assigning a hold rating despite the AI storage opportunity, which may temper enthusiasm at the margins. Western Digital: Hold Rating Despite AI Storage Supercycle
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors also noted bullish commentary around Western Digital’s new quantum-secure drives and addition of AI/cloud executive Manuvir Das to the board, both of which support the long-term strategy narrative. Western Digital Links Quantum Secure Drives And AI Board Expertise
• Negative Sentiment: Some stock-picking commentary and recent insider/hedge-fund related articles are less supportive, but they appear secondary to the stronger AI-storage momentum driving the shares. Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Leopold Aschenbrenner Is Selling This Stock

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $221,800,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $488.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $424.33.

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.

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