Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s stock price shot up 8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $529.72 and last traded at $529.29. 6,193,463 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 8,785,049 shares. The stock had previously closed at $490.09.
Western Digital News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: WDC is benefiting from a sector-wide rebound in memory and storage shares, with investors buying the dip after last week’s sharp pullback. SanDisk Jumps 14%, Western Digital Climbs 6% as Memory Stocks Rebound on SK Hynix’s Capacity Plan
- Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst actions remain supportive, with Mizuho and Citi raising price targets on Western Digital and maintaining constructive ratings amid strong AI-related storage demand. Mizuho and Citi Raise Western Digital (WDC) Price Targets
- Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm is also being supported by the view that AI-driven storage demand, pricing gains, and WDC’s more focused HDD business could sustain growth. Western Digital Stock Skyrockets 185% YTD: Is More Growth on the Horizon?
- Neutral Sentiment: Brokerage coverage remains broadly favorable, with Western Digital receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating. Western Digital Corporation Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages
- Negative Sentiment: WDC has also faced periodic weakness from broader market pressure, including a selloff tied to hotter-than-expected inflation data that revived rate-hike concerns. IPG Photonics, Western Digital, and Skyworks Solutions Shares Are Falling, What You Need To Know
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have issued reports on WDC. Wall Street Zen upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays increased their target price on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $433.29.
Western Digital Price Performance
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $436.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $303.37. The stock has a market cap of $182.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 2.13.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 243,177 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. 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.
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