Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $536.01, but opened at $496.07. Western Digital shares last traded at $504.1040, with a volume of 1,349,772 shares traded.
More Western Digital News
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is benefiting from a shortage of storage products and continued AI-related demand, supporting an optimistic long-term growth outlook. Is Western Digital Stock an Undervalued AI Stock to Buy?
- Positive Sentiment: Momentum-focused analysis continues to identify WDC as an attractive pick, reflecting strong recent performance and favorable investor sentiment toward AI-driven storage demand. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
- Neutral Sentiment: Jim Cramer said it may not be too late to invest in memory and storage stocks, but he also highlighted the sector’s historical boom-and-bust cycles, underscoring the risk of sharp swings in demand and pricing. Jim Cramer Discusses WDC and Other Memory Stocks
- Negative Sentiment: A broader technology selloff pressured WDC and other memory stocks as investors reduced exposure to AI hardware following a Wall Street Journal report about undisclosed AI-related spending commitments. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Lower
- Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are weighing on high-growth semiconductor and storage shares by increasing discount rates and making richly valued AI trades less attractive, even without a deterioration in memory fundamentals. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
- Negative Sentiment: One recent analysis argues that WDC could be substantially overvalued after its strong rally, while uncertainty over whether Apple can source high-bandwidth memory from Chinese suppliers is creating additional volatility around potential demand shifts. Western Digital Could Be Overvalued on Apple China Memory Push
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
WDC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Susquehanna raised their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.
Western Digital Price Performance
The firm has a market cap of $159.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.09 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $555.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $431.58.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.
Insider Transactions at Western Digital
In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total transaction of $427,941.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,663,290.57. The trade was a 0.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,987 shares of company stock valued at $11,602,097. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in Western Digital by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the period. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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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