Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $577.46, but opened at $532.40. Western Digital shares last traded at $528.9310, with a volume of 1,284,513 shares.
Western Digital News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Western Digital, with recent coverage noting price-target increases and a “moderate buy” consensus, suggesting Wall Street still sees upside if storage demand stays tight. BofA Raises Price Target for Western Digital Corp. (WDC)
- Positive Sentiment: A separate market commentary argued that the recent sell-off may be an AI hardware reset rather than a fundamental breakdown, pointing to strong enterprise demand and tight supply conditions that could support Western Digital over time. Flash Crash or Cash? The AI Hardware Reset Investors Can’t Ignore (WDC)
- Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital has been drawing elevated trader attention recently, but that interest alone does not provide a clear fundamental catalyst. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock
- Negative Sentiment: The main driver behind today’s weakness is sector-wide risk-off selling in memory names after Samsung’s results sparked concerns that the recent rally may have gone too far too fast. Micron, SanDisk, and Western Digital Sink 7% as Samsung Earnings Spark a Memory Selloff
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The firm has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52 and a beta of 2.11. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $543.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $363.35.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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, analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.
Insider Transactions at Western Digital
In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $350,403,000. 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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