Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s share price dropped 11.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $511.33 and last traded at $511.72. Approximately 7,680,613 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 8,858,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $575.50.
Specifically, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.33.
Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from strong investor enthusiasm around AI-driven storage demand, with recent articles highlighting new AI-focused storage technologies, improved analyst valuation estimates, and expectations for firmer HDD and memory pricing. Why Western Digital (WDC) Is Up 12.0% After Unveiling New AI‑Focused Storage Technologies
- Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reportedly raised its price target on Western Digital by 37%, helping push the stock to fresh highs as investors positioned ahead of the company’s Computex-related AI announcements. Western Digital (WDC) Hits All-Time High as Citi Hikes PT by 37%
- Positive Sentiment: The company has also been cleaning up its balance sheet and making more AI-related moves, which some investors view as supporting additional upside. Western Digital Could Be Halfway Through Retiring 2028 Convertible Debt. What It Means for the Stock.
- Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent earnings were strong, with the company beating estimates and issuing upbeat guidance, but the stock still saw a short-term dip as some traders appeared to take profits after a big run. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips 3% Despite Strong Earnings—Should Investors Buy the Pullback?
- Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that the broader market and semiconductor stocks have been choppy, with Broadcom’s cautious AI outlook pressuring memory names like Western Digital even after the company’s strong news flow. MU, SNDK, WDC: Memory Stocks Dip As Broadcom’s Forecast Dampens AI Sentiment, Retail Turns Buyer
- Negative Sentiment: One near-term headwind is profit-taking after Western Digital’s rapid run-up to all-time highs, which has led to some price weakness despite the longer-term bullish narrative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts
Western Digital Price Performance
The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $422.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.77. The firm has a market cap of $176.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The firm 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 revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.99%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $350,403,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.
About Western Digital
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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