Analysts Set Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Target Price at $177.50

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $177.50.

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Digital from $150.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, October 31st. China Renaissance assumed coverage on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, December 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $193.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $215.00 on Monday. Western Digital has a 1 year low of $28.83 and a 1 year high of $221.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.23. The company has a market cap of $73.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were given a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.28%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total value of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd 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. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Western Digital by 207.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 264 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is 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.