Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 2.1% – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares traded up 2.1% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $505.99 and last traded at $487.42. 5,365,288 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 9,027,056 shares. The stock had previously closed at $477.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WDC shares. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.1%

The business has a 50 day moving average of $560.89 and a 200 day moving average of $386.04. The company has a market capitalization of $168.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during 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 during the period. Avion Wealth raised its position in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth about $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.