Key Points
- Insider sale: Western Digital insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 2,475 shares at an average price of $556.24, totaling about $1.38 million. The sale reduced their holdings by 2.82%, but they still own more than 85,000 shares.
- Strong operating results: Western Digital recently beat earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $2.72 EPS on $3.34 billion in revenue. Quarterly revenue jumped 45.5% year over year, and the company raised its quarterly dividend from $0.13 to $0.15 per share.
- Positive Wall Street and industry sentiment: Analysts remain broadly bullish, with several firms lifting price targets and Western Digital carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating. The stock has also been boosted by themes around AI-driven storage demand and cloud/data center growth.
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.
Western Digital Stock Performance
NASDAQ WDC opened at $563.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $400.87 and a 200-day moving average of $284.43. The stock has a market cap of $194.09 billion, a PE ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.88 and a 52-week high of $571.18.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is 2.99%.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Western Digital by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,613 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Summitry LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $231,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in Western Digital by 241.8% in the 1st quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,595 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,788 shares in the last quarter. BankChampaign National Association acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $2,128,000. Finally, January Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $241,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company's stock.
Trending Headlines about Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WDC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Argus set a $300.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $424.33.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Western Digital
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.
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