Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $510.97 and last traded at $507.4710, with a volume of 1164081 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $480.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $405.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Up 6.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $176.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.44 and a beta of 2.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $325.84 and its 200-day moving average is $242.16.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for 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 revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,679 shares of company stock worth $18,049,314. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 9.2% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 33.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.