Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 5.4% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded down 5.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $518.28 and last traded at $519.17. 8,904,723 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 8,904,478 shares. The stock had previously closed at $548.56.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect approximately $3.30 in earnings per share and $3.7 billion in revenue, both above the year-ago period. Strong results or an upbeat forecast could support the stock by confirming continued demand for data-center storage. Western Digital Earnings Are Imminent; These Most Accurate Analysts Revise Forecasts Ahead Of Earnings Call
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is described as entering the quarter with strong momentum, including improving balance-sheet leverage and indications that portions of its storage capacity are effectively sold out. Those conditions could strengthen pricing and margins if demand remains robust. Western Digital: Sold Out, De-Levered, And Walking Into FQ4 With Momentum
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are focused on three issues in the earnings release: enterprise and AI-related storage demand, profitability and management’s guidance for the next quarter. The results may produce significant volatility because the market is looking for evidence that the AI buildout can sustain growth. Western Digital Q4 Earnings Today – 3 Things Investors Are Watching
• Negative Sentiment: WDC has already risen more than 222% this year, leaving elevated expectations and increasing the risk of profit-taking if earnings, guidance or AI-related commentary fall short. Analysts and options traders are consequently anticipating a wide range of possible post-earnings outcomes. Western Digital Stock Is Up 222% YTD — Should You Buy Ahead of Tomorrow’s Q4?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WDC shares. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.32.

Western Digital Stock Down 5.4%

The company has a market cap of $178.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 2.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $569.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $413.52.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $529.63, for a total value of $427,941.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 114,539 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,663,290.57. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at $788,729,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $221,800,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth about $350,403,000. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in Western Digital by 267.6% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,691,659 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $291,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,477 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently 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.