Cynthia Tregillis Sells 447 Shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 447 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total value of $102,363.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 143,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,819,822. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.6%

WDC stock opened at $243.29 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $180.97 and its 200 day moving average is $128.66. The stock has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital Corporation has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $247.94.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 124.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Western Digital by 86.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and big price‑target hikes — Several firms (Citigroup, Rosenblatt, Bank of America and others) raised targets and reiterated buy/overweight ratings, giving immediate validation to higher valuation expectations and helping lift WDC shares. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sector rotation into storage on the back of AI — Institutional flows are shifting from GPUs to storage as AI needs move from compute to massive capacity and checkpointing, boosting demand (and pricing power) for HDDs and SSDs that Western Digital supplies. This narrative is fuelling multiple upgrades and higher forward estimates. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings beat momentum — Analysts (Zacks coverage) note WDC has a strong history of beating estimates and says the company has the setup to outpace consensus again next quarter, supporting upside to near-term EPS expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate catalysts and shareholder returns — Western Digital’s Innovation Day (Feb. 3) to highlight HAMR and data‑center roadmap, plus a recent 25% quarterly dividend increase, give tangible catalysts that could reinforce the AI‑storage investment thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sale is minor — An officer sold 447 shares (~$229 avg) in a routine filing; small relative to total holdings and not an obvious red flag for management conviction. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and pullback risk — Several articles warn WDC’s rapid multi‑hundred‑percent rally may be overextended; a reversion in supply/pricing dynamics or slowing AI spending could trigger volatility and a meaningful pullback. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Not a pure AI play — Analysts caution WDC is a storage/cycle stock; AI can materially help fundamentals but won’t eliminate traditional cycle risk, so upside may be lumpy and sensitive to memory supply dynamics. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Western Digital from $145.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.29.

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.