Insider Selling: Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells 447 Shares of Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total transaction of $102,363.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 143,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,819,822. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC traded up $18.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $241.90. 9,410,413 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,423,778. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.05. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $28.83 and a 52-week high of $244.90. The company has a market capitalization of $82.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.28%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $225,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.6% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 30,434 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,656 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $233,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 7.1% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,888 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $7,594,000 after buying an additional 7,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $358,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst price‑target upgrades and buy ratings raise the upside narrative for WDC — Rosenblatt raised its target to $270, Bank of America reset its target to $257, and Citigroup/others have similarly boosted targets, supporting the stock’s momentum. Price Target Coverage Bank of America Resets WDC Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Shift of institutional money into storage (the “forget the chips, buy memory” theme) is elevating WDC as data-center operators prioritize capacity (HDDs) for AI training data lakes — a structural demand tailwind. MarketBeat: Forget the Chips, Buy Memory
• Positive Sentiment: Capital-market validation: high-profile investors and hedge funds have accumulated WDC alongside other AI/infra plays, signaling conviction from institutional buyers. Fool: Billionaires Buy AI Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate events and product roadmap: WDC scheduled an Innovation Day on Feb 3 to showcase AI/storage-focused tech (HAMR, data-center solutions), which can accelerate analyst and customer confidence. BusinessWire: Innovation Day 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Consumer promotion: a temporary discount on WD_Black expansion cards is unlikely to affect enterprise revenue trends but is worth noting for retail-margin dynamics. Kotaku: WD_Black Discount
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and momentum risk: several analysts and outlets warn WDC’s rally (multi‑hundred percent YTD/Yr moves) could be overextended; calls for a pullback or “sugar high” surface amid stretched multiples and high short‑term expectations. Yahoo Finance: Has WDC Run Too Far? Seeking Alpha: The Storage Sugar High
• Negative Sentiment: Cycle and concentration risk: commentary notes WDC is not a pure AI company (it’s HDD-focused), so demand is tied to data‑center capex cycles and could face downturns or competition from other storage tiers. Seeking Alpha: Not an AI Stock

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.76.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.