Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Down 2.8% – Should You Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price fell 2.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $300.60 and last traded at $304.90. 12,263,871 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 21% from the average session volume of 10,100,419 shares. The stock had previously closed at $313.81.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Hyperscaler partnerships are strengthening revenue visibility for fiscal 2026 and support Western Digital’s high-capacity storage roadmap for AI/data-center customers — a demand-side fundamental that underpins longer-term sales growth. Western Digital’s Hyperscaler Momentum Boosts Revenue Visibility
• Positive Sentiment: Technical momentum remains constructive — analysts and chart watchers cite a recent golden-cross (50-day SMA crossing above 200-day SMA), which can attract trend-following capital and support the stock on pullbacks. These 2 Data Storage Stocks Just Flashed Golden Crosses
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and momentum are now front-and-center — recent outsized gains have left investors parsing whether current prices already reflect near-term demand upside; some coverage frames current moves as momentum-driven rather than news-driven. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check After Strong Recent Share Price Momentum
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and a “reset” in expectations after the AI-driven run-up appear to be the immediate catalysts; a recent conference presentation was treated by some traders as a sell-the-news event rather than a fresh demand surprise. Additionally, management’s move to monetize remaining SanDisk stake (cash-raising to reduce debt) may be viewed as balance-sheet cleanup rather than an earnings accelerator. Heavy insider selling (many recent open-market sales, few/zero purchases) adds to negative perception. Western Digital (WDC) slides as investors extend a pullback after a sharp AI-driven run-up

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.40, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $263.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.69.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% in the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after buying an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter worth $788,729,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.