Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 7.1% – Here’s Why

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded up 7.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $601.00 and last traded at $577.46. 7,532,729 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 9,169,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $539.00.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-related enthusiasm is boosting memory and storage stocks broadly, lifting Western Digital as investors buy into the idea that data-center and AI infrastructure demand will stay strong. The AI Trade Is Off to a Hot Start This Week as Chip, Memory Stocks Surge
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment appears to be improving, with Bank of America raising its price target and other reports noting a “moderate buy” consensus, reinforcing bullish expectations for WDC. BofA Raises Price Target for Western Digital Corp. (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary points to stronger hard-disk-drive demand and tight supply, suggesting improved pricing power and earnings momentum for Western Digital after its recent restructuring. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges on Analyst Upgrades: Price Targets Reach $900
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was also cited among the day’s broader market movers, but this appears to be more a reflection of sector momentum than a company-specific catalyst. Terawulf, Ceva, Western Digital And Other Big Stocks Moving Higher On Monday

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on WDC shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued 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 a consensus target price of $493.52.

Western Digital Stock Up 7.1%

The company has a market cap of $199.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48 and a beta of 2.11. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $539.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $360.51.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Western Digital by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently 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.