Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Irving Tan Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $454.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $156.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 2.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $558.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $423.11. Western Digital Corporation has a 52-week low of $73.14 and a 52-week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 18.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

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

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven storage demand is supporting the sector. A reported deepening memory shortage and a neocloud company’s results highlighted continued spending on AI infrastructure, lifting expectations for demand for Western Digital’s hard-disk drives and NAND products. Memory shortage article
• Positive Sentiment: Higher-capacity drives are improving margins. Favorable pricing, lower costs, and new ePMR products are helping Western Digital expand margins, while demand for high-capacity drives remains strong. Western Digital margin article
• Positive Sentiment: Cash flow provides a fundamental catalyst. Western Digital generated approximately $3.5 billion in fiscal 2026 free cash flow, driven by stronger demand, pricing, and high-capacity drives. Investors are now assessing whether that momentum can continue into fiscal 2027. Western Digital free cash flow article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation and momentum views remain supportive. One valuation update raised Western Digital’s estimated fair value from $584.79 to $662.13, while momentum screens continued to identify WDC as a potential 2026 outperformer. Western Digital fair value article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains broadly favorable, with the average brokerage recommendation equivalent to “Buy,” although the reliability of consensus ratings can be limited when expectations are already optimistic. Western Digital analyst recommendations
• Negative Sentiment: The main risks are execution during technology transitions and uncertainty over how long elevated storage pricing and AI-related demand will translate into higher margins. Investors are also questioning whether fiscal 2026’s exceptional cash-flow growth is sustainable.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on WDC. Bank of America boosted their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $221,800,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $885,565,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $350,403,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.