Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 9.9% – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price shot up 9.9% on Monday. The company traded as high as $293.39 and last traded at $289.78. Approximately 8,372,282 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 8,714,944 shares. The stock had previously closed at $263.78.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Western Digital from $590.00 to $770.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Western Digital from $720.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Argus dropped their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Susquehanna set a $405.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.04.

Western Digital Stock Up 9.9%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $406.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $418.97. The stock has a market cap of $108.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.27.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.78 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.1750 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.72%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at $885,565,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $350,403,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $627,606,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops and supplies hard disk drives (HDDs) and related data-storage products. Its drives serve data centers and cloud providers, as well as businesses and consumers who need storage for computers, network-attached storage systems, surveillance and other applications. Its product brands include WD and Ultrastar.

Founded in 1970, the company began as an electronics and semiconductor business before expanding into data storage. In February 2025, Western Digital completed the separation of its flash-memory business into the independently traded SanDisk Corporation, leaving Western Digital focused on HDDs.

Western Digital serves customers around the world.