Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 3.8% – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 3.8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $483.87 and last traded at $483.15. Approximately 8,216,218 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 9,366,842 shares. The stock had previously closed at $465.26.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 beat and upbeat guidance — WDC reported an EPS beat and raised its FYQ4 EPS range, with accelerating revenue and margins driven by AI/data?center HDD demand, which is a core reason investors are bidding the stock up. Western Digital Stock Surges After Q3 Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades/price-target lifts — Multiple firms (including TD Cowen and Wells Fargo) raised price targets into the ~$500 area and reiterated buy/overweight views, reinforcing momentum and giving investors fresh upside conviction. AI Boom Drives Western Digital Toward $500 Target
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwind from SanDisk’s breakout — SanDisk’s dramatic post?spinoff rally and strength in memory suppliers supports a bullish narrative for WDC as customers scale AI/datacenter capacity. SanDisk Outpaces Former Parent
• Positive Sentiment: Risk?on market backdrop and media endorsements — Falling VIX and bullish TV/press coverage (including Jim Cramer highlighting storage stocks) have helped rotate capital into tech and storage names like WDC. Jim Cramer on Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Equity?for?equity exchange announced — WD entered agreements to exchange Sandisk and WDC shares (settlement expected May 7). This is a capital?structure/holder rearrangement that is informational but not clearly dilutive or immediately value?creating. WD Announces Equity-for-Equity Exchange
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor outreach — WDC presented at Barclays’ conference and has widespread coverage; useful for transparency and flows but not an immediate catalyst. Barclays Conference Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling / executive stock sales — CEO Irving Tan (20,000 shares under a 10b5?1 plan) and other executives sold shares recently; while some sales were pre?arranged, investors often view sizable insider selling near highs as a modest negative signal. Irving Tan SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Additional insider reductions — Other insiders (including the COO) sold smaller stakes this week, which may keep some traders cautious about near?term profit?taking risk. Executives Unload $10M+

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup upped their target price on Western Digital from $405.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Up 3.8%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $317.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $237.27. The company has a market capitalization of $166.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.82 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 97,385 shares of company stock valued at $29,499,874 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Avion Wealth boosted its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.