Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 7.5% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) were down 7.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $291.18 and last traded at $293.10. Approximately 12,781,805 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 26% from the average daily volume of 10,172,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $316.93.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Hyperscaler partnerships are strengthening revenue visibility for fiscal 2026 and support Western Digital’s high-capacity storage roadmap for AI/data-center customers — a demand-side fundamental that underpins longer-term sales growth. Western Digital’s Hyperscaler Momentum Boosts Revenue Visibility
• Positive Sentiment: Technical momentum remains constructive — analysts and chart watchers cite a recent golden-cross (50-day SMA crossing above 200-day SMA), which can attract trend-following capital and support the stock on pullbacks. These 2 Data Storage Stocks Just Flashed Golden Crosses
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and momentum are now front-and-center — recent outsized gains have left investors parsing whether current prices already reflect near-term demand upside; some coverage frames current moves as momentum-driven rather than news-driven. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check After Strong Recent Share Price Momentum
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and a “reset” in expectations after the AI-driven run-up appear to be the immediate catalysts; a recent conference presentation was treated by some traders as a sell-the-news event rather than a fresh demand surprise. Additionally, management’s move to monetize remaining SanDisk stake (cash-raising to reduce debt) may be viewed as balance-sheet cleanup rather than an earnings accelerator. Heavy insider selling (many recent open-market sales, few/zero purchases) adds to negative perception. Western Digital (WDC) slides as investors extend a pullback after a sharp AI-driven run-up

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $260.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $265.58.

Western Digital Trading Down 7.5%

The firm has a market cap of $99.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $263.78 and a 200 day moving average of $184.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The company’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total transaction of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This represents a 3.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $6,281,000 after acquiring an additional 5,731 shares in the last quarter. LBP AM SA bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter worth about $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,244,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the third quarter valued at $636,000. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after purchasing an additional 25,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.