Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 5.3% Following Insider Selling

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares were down 5.3% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $244.20 and last traded at $245.25. Approximately 6,319,899 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 10,284,573 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.03.

Specifically, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, December 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $193.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Spin‑off completed and balance‑sheet actions: WDC has repositioned as a pure‑play HDD supplier, reportedly sold a ~$3.1B stake and locked long‑term hyperscaler contracts that fully book HDD capacity through at least 2028 — improving revenue visibility and margins. Western Digital Bets On Pure HDD Future With Hyperscaler AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand tailwinds and sold‑out nearline capacity: Research and company commentary point to strong AI/video workload demand, guidance for materially higher revenue and gross margins, and a narrative that is driving institutional interest. Western Digital: AI’s Unsung Storage Backbone
• Neutral Sentiment: Options and big‑money flow: Elevated options activity signals active positioning by large traders but does not by itself change fundamentals; useful to monitor for directional conviction. Western Digital’s Options: A Look at What the Big Money is Thinking
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotions and product noise (e.g., unusual SSD pricing) are drawing short‑term attention but are peripheral to the enterprise HDD thesis. This 2TB WD SN850X is cheaper from Walmart than the equivalent 1TB model in a strange deal
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Multiple executive sales were disclosed (March 4 filings), which can weigh on short‑term sentiment even if routine. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Insider Sells $2,501,349.48 in Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Stake divestiture & valuation/cycle risk: coverage notes that the recent run has priced in peak AI/storage expectations; a large stake sale and debt moves previously triggered a sharp pullback and broader tech selling—raising the risk of further volatility if hyperscaler demand softens. What Drove WDC Stock’s Historic 490% Jump

Western Digital Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $245.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $83.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.76.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDC. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 86.9% in the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.