Key Points
- Insider sale: Cynthia Tregillis sold 9,324 shares on March 4 at $268.27 for $2,501,349.48, reducing her stake by 7.12% to 121,682 shares, per an SEC filing.
- Western Digital beat quarterly estimates with $2.13 EPS on $3.02 billion revenue (up 25.2% YoY) and declared a $0.125 quarterly dividend ($0.50 annualized).
- The company has repositioned as a pure‑play HDD supplier after a flash spin‑off and reports sold‑out nearline capacity and long‑term hyperscaler deals that support an AI‑driven storage thesis, though analysts warn of valuation and cycle risk despite a consensus price target near $265.6.
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.
Western Digital Stock Down 1.3%
Shares of Western Digital stock traded down $3.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $255.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,294,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,178,938. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The company's 50-day moving average is $245.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.68. The company has a market cap of $86.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76. Western Digital Corporation has a twelve month low of $28.83 and a twelve month high of $309.90.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital's payout ratio is presently 5.02%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avion Wealth grew its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Trending Headlines about Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Company completed the spin‑off of its flash business and repositioned as a pure‑play HDD supplier, raising cash (a reported $3.1B stake sale) and locking long‑term supply deals that fully book HDD production through at least 2028 — a structural move that supports revenue visibility and higher-margin HDD demand from hyperscalers. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future With Hyperscaler AI Demand
- Positive Sentiment: Strong AI-driven storage thesis: management and analysts cite sold‑out nearline capacity for 2026, long‑term cloud/hyperscaler commitments, and guidance that points to material revenue and margin expansion as AI workloads (especially video and large model data) raise demand for high‑capacity HDDs. This narrative is driving investor rotation back into WDC after a pullback. Western Digital: AI's Unsung Storage Backbone
- Neutral Sentiment: Street coverage remains bullish overall (multiple buy/overweight ratings and a wide range of price targets; median near ~$253.5), which supports liquidity and trading interest but highlights dispersion in valuation expectations. QuiverQuant WDC coverage & analyst summary
- Neutral Sentiment: Retail/consumer promotions (example: WD SN850X 2TB pricing anomalies at Walmart) are noise for enterprise HDD thesis but can create short‑term retail attention. This 2TB WD SN850X is cheaper from Walmart than the equivalent 1TB model in a strange deal
- Negative Sentiment: Valuation and cycle risk flagged by analysts: some note that recent share gains may be cyclical and that multiples now reflect peak expectations for AI storage demand — raising the risk of a correction if hyperscaler demand softens or capacity normalizes. Western Digital: Strong AI Tailwinds, But Valuation Signals Cyclical Peak Risk
- Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling reported (multiple senior exec sales disclosed on March 4); persistent seller activity from insiders can weigh on sentiment even if sales are routine diversification. Insider sale filing: Vidyadhara K. Gubbi
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research analysts have commented on the company. China Renaissance assumed coverage on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, December 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $193.00 price target on the stock. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group set a $306.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $265.58.
View Our Latest Analysis on WDC
About Western Digital
(
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
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