Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) traded down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $480.87 and last traded at $517.72. 7,205,911 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 8,833,881 shares. The stock had previously closed at $526.93.

More Western Digital News

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $433.29.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Western Digital

Western Digital Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $427.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.34. The firm has a market cap of $178.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.91 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDCGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $350,403,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

(Get Free Report)

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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