Insider Selling: Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells 1,795 Shares of Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock traded up $9.84 on Tuesday, hitting $477.30. The stock had a trading volume of 6,389,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,114,668. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $499.11 and its 200-day moving average is $449.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $92.70 and a 52-week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI demand supports long-term growth prospects. Rising data volumes from AI inference, agentic AI and other emerging workloads could increase demand for Western Digital’s data-storage products, offering a potential structural growth catalyst. AI Data Explosion: Can WDC Become a Bigger Storage Winner?
• Positive Sentiment: Strong free cash flow may support shareholder returns. Western Digital entered fiscal 2027 with improved cash generation and a net cash position. Continued free-cash-flow returns through buybacks and dividends may strengthen the investment case and help support the stock. Can Western Digital’s Strong FCF Sustain Buybacks and Dividends?
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital showed relative strength during a weaker market session. The stock gained while the overall market dipped, suggesting continued investor demand for the company’s earnings momentum and AI-related storage opportunity. Why the Market Dipped But Western Digital Gained Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention is elevated. Western Digital was among the stocks heavily searched by Zacks users, which can increase near-term trading interest but does not by itself indicate improving fundamentals or guarantee continued gains. Investors Heavily Search Western Digital Corporation

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hudock Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter worth $206,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 52.2% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 9,004 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,751,000 after purchasing an additional 3,088 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 96,018 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $61,329,000 after buying an additional 2,344 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 70.9% in the 2nd quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,986 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after buying an additional 824 shares during the period. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 5,889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,761,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on WDC shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

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.