Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $529.92 and last traded at $524.24, with a volume of 1949230 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $484.28.
Key Western Digital News
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital appointed former NVIDIA executive Manuvir Das to its board, reinforcing the company’s AI/data-center strategy and signaling management’s focus on enterprise AI growth. WD Appoints Manuvir Das to Board of Directors
- Positive Sentiment: Evercore reportedly raised its price target on WDC to $575, saying hard disk drives remain critical for AI infrastructure buildouts and that the stock looks underappreciated. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is also benefiting from a sector-wide “memory melt-up,” with AI demand, tighter supply, and stronger pricing boosting expectations for storage makers like WDC. Not Just Micron: Memory Melt-Up Pulls SanDisk Up 8%, Western Digital Up 10%
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have issued reports on WDC. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.50.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The firm has a market cap of $183.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 2.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $387.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $276.68.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.99%.
Insider Activity at Western Digital
In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 214 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.63, for a total transaction of $115,480.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 117,157 shares in the company, valued at $63,221,431.91. This represents a 0.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 55.3% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.
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