Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

Posted by Brian Himes on Nov 1st, 2026

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

WDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $625.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $430.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.04.

View Our Latest Research Report on WDC

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $366.11 on Friday. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $132.43 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $137.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $421.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $416.75.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $4.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The business’s revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 23.62 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,392,640. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,602,927,000. ABS Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,226,342,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $885,565,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $627,606,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 revenue of $4.38 billion, non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 and free cash flow of $1.38 billion, exceeding expectations. Management also forecast approximately $5.1 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue and $5.80 in non-GAAP EPS, signaling continued strength in AI-related data-center storage demand. Western Digital slides as strong results fail to calm spending and sector worries
Positive Sentiment: Analyst targets remain well above the current trading level, with Quiver Quantitative citing a six-month median target of $650. Several analysts view Western Digital as a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure expansion and rising demand for high-capacity nearline hard drives. Western Digital selloff and analyst targets
Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate are both benefiting from AI data-center spending. However, comparisons favor Seagate on some metrics, including return on equity, valuation and free-cash-flow generation, potentially affecting investor preference within the storage group. Seagate versus Western Digital
Negative Sentiment: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending and lofty storage-sector valuations can remain sustainable. A sharp decline in Sandisk and weakness across memory and semiconductor stocks amplified pressure on WDC, even after Sandisk delivered strong results and raised guidance. Memory-sector selloff
Negative Sentiment: Quarterly capital spending of $227 million, continued buybacks and capacity and technology-transition needs have raised concerns about cash demands and future returns. Profit-taking after WDC’s substantial earlier advance may also be contributing to the decline. Quiver also reports 110 insider sales and no insider purchases over the past six months, an additional sentiment headwind. Western Digital spending and insider activity

About Western Digital

(Get Free Report)

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.