Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 2% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were down 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $454.33 and last traded at $459.44. Approximately 4,326,401 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 8,882,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $469.05.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $552.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $433.31. The company has a market capitalization of $158.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 2.14.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,366,060.96. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 24,679 shares of company stock worth $11,451,605 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $512,107,000 after purchasing an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,809,409 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $483,977,000 after purchasing an additional 159,167 shares in the last quarter. 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.