Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) shares shot up 5.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $548.60 and last traded at $536.01. Approximately 9,068,138 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 8,943,769 shares. The stock had previously closed at $508.80.
Trending Headlines about Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Industry-wide memory bottleneck: Elon Musk’s comments about tightening memory availability helped lift storage and memory stocks, including Western Digital. The move also reflects stronger expectations for AI infrastructure and data-center demand. SanDisk Rallies 8%, Western Digital Rises 6%, Micron Gains 5% as Elon Musk Flags a Memory Bottleneck
- Positive Sentiment: Political and sector catalyst: A Motley Fool report said comments from President Trump provided a significant boost to Western Digital, adding to the stock’s positive momentum, although the report headline does not specify the precise policy or statement involved. Why Western Digital Stock Popped Today
- Positive Sentiment: Better earnings outlook: Rising analyst earnings estimates are supporting the shares. Western Digital is entering fiscal 2027 with strong storage demand, improved pricing and AI-driven cloud growth expected to aid its hard-disk-drive recovery. Can Western Digital Run Higher on Rising Earnings Estimates? Can Strong End Markets and Pricing Tailwinds Keep WDC’s Momentum Alive?
- Neutral Sentiment: Retail promotion: Amazon’s price reduction and clearance of a WD 5TB My Passport portable drive may increase product visibility, but it is unlikely to materially affect Western Digital’s financial results or valuation. Amazon Clears Out WD 5TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive After a Sudden Price Drop
- Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade: Wall Street Zen lowered its rating on Western Digital, creating a counterweight to the favorable demand and earnings narrative. Western Digital Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on 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 reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The company has a market capitalization of $184.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14 and a beta of 2.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $556.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.77.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.
Western Digital Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.48%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Western Digital
A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Park West Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,566,000. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,114,000. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the second quarter worth $1,454,000. Avala Global LP acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $120,782,000. Finally, Vantage Point Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth $241,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by 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.
Recommended Stories
- Five stocks we like better than Western Digital
- Commodities Are Booming, But These 3 ETFs Tell Different Stories
- 3 Active ETFs Making Big Moves in August
- This ETF Is Outperforming by Avoiding the S&P 500’s Biggest Problem
- Birkenstock Beats the Skeptics—But Not on EPS
Receive News & Ratings for Western Digital Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Western Digital and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
