Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 7.3% Higher – Time to Buy?

Posted by Geri Gentry on Aug 15th, 2026

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) traded up 7.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $502.64 and last traded at $487.29. 8,644,743 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 8,937,888 shares. The stock had previously closed at $454.10.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their price target on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price target on Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on WDC

Western Digital Trading Up 4.4%

The company has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $556.33 and its 200-day moving average is $425.47.

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 net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other 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.