Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $577.46, but opened at $532.40. Western Digital shares last traded at $528.9310, with a volume of 1,284,513 shares.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Research chatter turned more constructive after Melius Research was reported as bullish on Western Digital, reinforcing the view that the company is a beneficiary of AI storage demand. Melius Research is Bullish on Western Digital Corporation (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted strong fundamentals and valuation support, including comments that WDC looks inexpensive on cash flow, has beaten earnings recently, and continues to benefit from rising AI-related storage demand. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Looks Cheap On Cash Flow But Rich On Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst expectations remain generally favorable, with multiple firms maintaining buy or outperform ratings and recent price targets clustered above current levels, including a fresh upgrade in target from Susquehanna. Western Digital had its price target raised by Susquehanna
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-wide headlines about the Nasdaq, Fed minutes, and broader tech rotation are adding noise to trading, but these are not specific to Western Digital’s fundamentals. Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Swings To Score A Win; Fed Minutes Show Split On Direction
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are still wary after the recent memory-chip selloff tied to Samsung results, which pressured WDC and peers earlier in the week and could keep sentiment choppy. Here is What to Know Beyond Why Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a Trending Stock

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $502.12.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.4%

The stock has a market cap of $189.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.85 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $548.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $368.57.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA grew its stake in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.