Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s stock price shot up 4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $470.00 and last traded at $468.88. Approximately 5,020,164 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 8,829,222 shares. The stock had previously closed at $450.75.
Key Western Digital News
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Western Digital disclosed exchange agreements covering approximately $191 million of 3.00% convertible notes due in 2028. The transaction, expected to close on or after September 2, would reduce outstanding debt and is being viewed as active liability management, although issuing shares could cause some dilution. What’s Going on With Western Digital Stock on Wednesday?
- Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to see strong AI, hyperscale-cloud and data-center storage demand as a major growth driver. Western Digital recently reported quarterly revenue of $3.75 billion, up 43.8% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $3.56, above expectations; management also projected roughly $4.1 billion in next-quarter revenue. Western Digital Rises as Investors Weigh Fresh Debt Exchange Against Strong AI Storage Demand
- Positive Sentiment: A hammer chart pattern suggests the recent decline may have found technical support. Combined with upward earnings-estimate revisions, the signal has encouraged investors to anticipate a potential near-term recovery. Western Digital May Find a Bottom Soon
- Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital is assessing potential exposure to new U.S. sanctions involving Iran and its trading partners. Possible effects include higher compliance costs, supply-chain disruptions or altered shipment routes, but no specific financial impact has been announced. Western Digital Is Assessing New Iran Sanctions Exposure
- Negative Sentiment: The convertible-note exchange includes common stock, creating potential dilution. In addition, reports of extensive insider selling and the possibility of further investor rotation out of AI and memory-related stocks remain risks to sentiment. Western Digital Debt Exchange and Insider Activity
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five 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 a consensus target price of $534.56.
Western Digital Price Performance
The company has a market capitalization of $161.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $543.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $436.75.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.
Insider Activity at Western Digital
In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 25,384 shares of company stock valued at $11,753,463 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position 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 worth $147,275,000 after buying an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,889,000. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 342,516 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $59,040,000 after acquiring an additional 131,247 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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