Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 4.9% – Should You Sell?

Posted by Francis Steltz on Sep 24th, 2026

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) shares dropped 4.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $449.21 and last traded at $450.31. 7,110,551 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average daily volume of 8,578,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $473.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on WDC

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $474.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $462.70. The company has a market cap of $155.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 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 firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 432 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total value of $194,918.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at $50,096,736. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 32.4% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 87,122 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $55,647,000 after purchasing an additional 21,337 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 25.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,698,000 after purchasing an additional 2,142 shares during the last quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 112.8% in the 2nd quarter. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,263 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $11,026,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 480.4% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 296 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Western Digital

(Get Free Report)

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.