Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Down 11.1% on Insider Selling

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report)’s stock price traded down 11.1% during mid-day trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $511.33 and last traded at $511.72. 7,680,613 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 8,858,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $575.50.

Specifically, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $424.33.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Western Digital

Western Digital News Summary

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

Western Digital Trading Down 11.1%

The company has a market cap of $176.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.55 and a beta of 2.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $422.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $294.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company 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%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,270,000. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $793,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Receive News & Ratings for Western Digital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Western Digital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.