Western Digital Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 38,227 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average volume of 28,959 call options.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC traded down $19.95 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $199.43. 10,148,092 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,799,924. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $28.83 and a fifty-two week high of $221.23. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.63. The firm has a market cap of $68.18 billion, a PE ratio of 29.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 7th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investor excitement after Nvidia’s CES keynote lifted memory/storage names, and WDC jumped strongly as traders priced faster AI-related storage demand into the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s inclusion in the Nasdaq-100 was highlighted as validation of its strategic shift toward AI/data-center storage — a structural story investors reward with higher multiples. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity: traders bought ?38,227 WDC call contracts (about 32% above the average daily call volume), signaling short?term bullish positioning from derivatives traders.
• Positive Sentiment: Fund commentary and quarter notes point to “accelerated demand” in Q4, supporting the narrative of improving end-market dynamics for WDC’s storage products. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: SanDisk is rebranding WD_BLACK and WD_Blue consumer SSD lines to a new “Optimus” family — a marketing/product update that affects consumer perception but is unlikely to materially change WDC’s data-center growth thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: WDC is showing up frequently on radar lists and trend roundups as investors rotate into memory/storage plays; visibility is high, but this can amplify short-term volatility. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some market commentators warn the rally has been sharp and suggest selling into strength or re?rating concerns after a rapid run — raising the risk of a pullback if fundamentals don’t immediately accelerate further. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation checks: after a sharp multi-week rally some analysts are flagging stretched valuation metrics and urging caution if earnings revisions or demand signals disappoint. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at $596,524.46. This represents a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vident Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,059 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Western Digital by 77.7% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 447,426 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $17,705,000 after buying an additional 195,606 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 252.7% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,839 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 11,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WDC shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $125.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.65.

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.