Bruce Kiddoo Sells 750 Shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Director Bruce Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Western Digital Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $531.21 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $396.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.03. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $51.17 and a 52-week high of $553.50. The company has a market cap of $183.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday. Argus set a $300.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.50.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from broad strength across memory and storage stocks, with investors betting that AI infrastructure demand will keep pricing and demand elevated for HDDs and SSDs. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage points to continued gross margin improvement, with Q3 gross margin jumping to 50.5% and Q4 guidance calling for 51%-52%, helped by higher-capacity drives, better pricing, and cost controls. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: The company appointed former Nvidia executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the view that Western Digital is positioning itself more directly around AI and data-center growth opportunities. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary also highlighted Western Digital as underappreciated relative to peers, with hard disk drives still seen as critical to AI storage infrastructure. Western Digital Is Making the Right Moves Amid Fierce Momentum for Memory Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst piece argued Western Digital stacks up poorly versus peers like Micron, which could temper enthusiasm even as the broader sector remains strong. Western Digital Stacks Up Poorly To Peers Like Micron, Don’t Buy Here
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not appear to be a major warning sign. SEC filing

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Western Digital by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth about $791,317,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after purchasing an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.