Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 7.5% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) rose 7.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $297.56 and last traded at $290.95. Approximately 10,667,068 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 10,596,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $270.57.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Board approved an additional $4.0 billion share?buyback authorization, signaling confidence in cash generation and increasing near?term buyback demand. Western Digital jumps as buyback expansion, AI-era HDD roadmap, and balance-sheet actions fuel bullish sentiment
• Positive Sentiment: Management’s Innovation Day outlined a multi?year HDD roadmap for AI/data centers (40TB UltraSMR in customer qualification; path to 100TB+ HAMR by 2029), reinforcing the growth narrative around high?capacity, lower?cost storage for cloud and AI workloads. Western Digital jumps as buyback expansion, AI-era HDD roadmap, and balance-sheet actions fuel bullish sentiment
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy analyst buy/overweight coverage and a string of price?target increases have supported investor conviction amid the rally. Media notes WDC’s strong YTD and 12?month outperformance versus the S&P are drawing more buy?side attention. Western Digital Stock (WDC) Has Massively Outpaced S&P 500
• Neutral Sentiment: Retrospectives on the SanDisk split argue the separation helped the market re?rate WDC’s AI?focused HDD business — a longer?term positive but not an immediate catalyst. Why SanDisk’s split from Western Digital has been such a huge win for investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Comparisons and analyst write?ups (e.g., Zacks) reinforce strategic positioning vs. peers, providing useful context for investors evaluating exposure to AI/data?center storage. Wall Street Analysts See Western Digital (WDC) as a Buy
• Negative Sentiment: Plans to monetize most of the remaining SanDisk stake (secondary sale / debt?for?equity exchanges) cut both ways: proceeds reduce leverage but the secondary offering/large sales create equity overhang and near?term supply concerns. Western Digital Doubles Down On AI Data Centers And Cleaner Balance Sheet
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales (small blocks by Cynthia L. Tregillis disclosed in SEC filings) are minor in size but can be magnified by headlines and contribute to short?term selling pressure on weaker days. SEC Filing: Insider Sales (Cynthia L. Tregillis)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WDC. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Western Digital from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $231.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $98.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.80.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,392 shares of company stock worth $17,235,141. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 0.8% during 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 period. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 369 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 889 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.