Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 3% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded up 3% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $540.21 and last traded at $526.93. 6,209,825 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 30% from the average session volume of 8,848,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $511.72.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Citi remains bullish on Western Digital, suggesting analysts still see upside or a favorable setup despite the recent weakness. Citi Remains Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC) – Here’s Why
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is trending with investors, which can reflect renewed interest in the stock after its strong earnings and upbeat guidance from late April.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles highlight Western Digital as part of the broader AI and chip market discussion, keeping the stock on traders’ radar but without a clear company-specific catalyst. Marvell, Micron, Sandisk, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital shares fell with Micron and other memory stocks as investors sold semiconductor names during a risk-off session tied to geopolitical and macro uncertainty. Skyworks Solutions, Western Digital, and Teradyne Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know
• Negative Sentiment: Another market note said memory and storage stocks were broadly “taking it on the chin,” with Western Digital declining alongside Micron while SanDisk held up better. Micron Sinks 6%, Western Digital Falls 5% but SanDisk Holds Steady

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their target price on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $433.29.

Western Digital Trading Down 5.3%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $431.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $300.90. The company has a market cap of $168.92 billion, a PE ratio of 29.26 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued 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 return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital’s 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 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital 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 sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 853.8% during the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 80.2% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.