Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 6.3% – Here’s Why

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Jul 1st, 2026

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s stock price dropped 6.3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $585.80 and last traded at $598.37. 7,788,814 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 9,183,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $638.72.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Western Digital to $732 from $610 and kept a buy rating, implying meaningful upside versus the current share price. Bank of America raises Western Digital target
Positive Sentiment: Melius Research upgraded Western Digital to strong-buy, reinforcing the view that the stock still has room to run on improving fundamentals. Melius upgrades Western Digital to strong-buy
Positive Sentiment: Analysts are reassessing fair value higher as AI-related storage demand and HDD pricing trends improve the outlook; one estimate was reset to $584.79 from $518.26. Fair value boost for Western Digital
Positive Sentiment: Earlier coverage highlighted Western Digital as a momentum name in AI infrastructure, with options flow and analyst sentiment leaning bullish. Analysts see upside in Western Digital
Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s recent strength has been supported by technical momentum, with the stock trading well above its 200-day moving average. Why Western Digital stock was gaining Tuesday
Negative Sentiment: Despite the bullish analyst notes, WDC is being hit by a sector-wide selloff as memory stocks and the broader Nasdaq/semiconductor group pull back. Memory stocks pull back with the Nasdaq

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.52.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on WDC

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $206.25 billion, a PE ratio of 35.72 and a beta of 2.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $529.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $352.48.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 853.8% in the first quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 80.2% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.