Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives $534.56 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $534.56.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Summit Insights cut Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Western Digital Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $450.55 on Tuesday. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $77.90 and a 12-month high of $799.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $521.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $442.03. The company has a market capitalization of $155.30 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61 and a beta of 2.14.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,642 shares of company stock worth $10,676,659. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.