Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $227.66 and last traded at $226.8960, with a volume of 744362 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $215.00.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Western Digital from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wedbush increased their target price on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, China Renaissance started coverage on Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.50.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $173.38 and a 200-day moving average of $122.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.Western Digital’s revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 135,075 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $23,269,000 after purchasing an additional 5,875 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at $1,254,000. Clarius Group LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $282,000. Northwest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,482 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $793,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.