Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Climb 2.6% After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares rose 2.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $359.98 and last traded at $347.35. Approximately 5,321,057 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 8,655,580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.59.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Western Digital from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $668.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $380.00, for a total transaction of $306,660.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 108,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,392,640. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 25,436 shares of company stock valued at $11,340,064 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Margin growth and HDD demand support the outlook. Reports point to stronger pricing, demand for higher-capacity hard drives, AI-related storage needs and operational efficiencies as drivers of gross-margin expansion. Western Digital’s recent earnings beat and outlook were also cited as signs of potential further margin improvement. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded WDC to “strong buy” from “hold.” The upgrade provides a positive analyst signal amid the pullback. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation expectations were trimmed. One valuation model lowered its fair-value estimate to US$613.38 from US$650.67. The revised estimate remains above the reported share price, but the cut reflects questions about how much HDD strength is already priced in and uncertainty around customer capital spending and future supply. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI-policy headlines pressured storage and memory stocks. A lawmaker’s call for a pause in AI development added uncertainty about future data-center investment, extending a broader selloff in memory and storage shares. The reports describe a market reaction to the proposal, not an enacted policy. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain alert to valuation and execution risks. Commentary flagged premium-valuation concerns and the challenge of executing next-generation HAMR drive technology, tempering optimism about earnings and margins. Read More.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Down 17.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 2.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $410.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $418.77.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 69.20% and a return on equity of 55.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 23.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.72%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.