Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Price Target Raised to $257.00

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective boosted by Bank of America from $197.00 to $257.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Benchmark upped their price target on Western Digital from $115.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $135.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.29.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $243.29 on Tuesday. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $28.83 and a 1-year high of $247.94. The company has a market cap of $83.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.41, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $180.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. The business’s 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. On average, analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total value of $3,013,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,265,422.23. The trade was a 3.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total value of $272,272.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. The trade was a 33.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock worth $4,116,148. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Western Digital by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% in the second quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 86.9% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 551.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and big price‑target hikes — Several firms (Citigroup, Rosenblatt, Bank of America and others) raised targets and reiterated buy/overweight ratings, giving immediate validation to higher valuation expectations and helping lift WDC shares. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sector rotation into storage on the back of AI — Institutional flows are shifting from GPUs to storage as AI needs move from compute to massive capacity and checkpointing, boosting demand (and pricing power) for HDDs and SSDs that Western Digital supplies. This narrative is fuelling multiple upgrades and higher forward estimates. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Earnings beat momentum — Analysts (Zacks coverage) note WDC has a strong history of beating estimates and says the company has the setup to outpace consensus again next quarter, supporting upside to near-term EPS expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate catalysts and shareholder returns — Western Digital’s Innovation Day (Feb. 3) to highlight HAMR and data‑center roadmap, plus a recent 25% quarterly dividend increase, give tangible catalysts that could reinforce the AI‑storage investment thesis. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sale is minor — An officer sold 447 shares (~$229 avg) in a routine filing; small relative to total holdings and not an obvious red flag for management conviction. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and pullback risk — Several articles warn WDC’s rapid multi‑hundred‑percent rally may be overextended; a reversion in supply/pricing dynamics or slowing AI spending could trigger volatility and a meaningful pullback. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Not a pure AI play — Analysts caution WDC is a storage/cycle stock; AI can materially help fundamentals but won’t eliminate traditional cycle risk, so upside may be lumpy and sensitive to memory supply dynamics. Read More.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.