Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Sells 750 Shares

Key Points

• Insider sale: Western Digital Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares on May 28 for about $396,390, reducing his ownership by 16.12% to 3,903 shares.
• Strong quarterly results: The company reported Q3 earnings of $2.72 per share, beating estimates, on revenue of $3.34 billion, which was up 45.5% year over year.
• Dividend and analyst sentiment: Western Digital raised its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a price target of $413.50.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $391.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.27. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $51.17 and a twelve month high of $553.50. The firm has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a PE ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The company's quarterly 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 research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WDC shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $470.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.50.

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

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in 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. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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