Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 10.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price shot up 10.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Sanford C. Bernstein now has a $340.00 price target on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $296.62 and last traded at $297.9940. 2,335,511 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 9,836,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $270.49.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $197.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $275.75.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $159,288,807.84. This trade represents a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded WDC to Outperform and doubled its price target to ~$340, calling the recent sell‑off an overreaction — this analyst vote of confidence is driving fresh buying interest. ‘An Attractive Entry Point’: Bernstein Upgrades Western Digital (WDC) Stock Following Sell-Off
• Positive Sentiment: Product roadmap: coverage notes WDC’s next‑gen HAMR and ePMR drives could give it a capacity/margin edge for AI and cloud data centers — a clear fundamental tailwind if adoption and shipments scale. Will Next-Gen HAMR & ePMR Drives Give Western Digital a Storage Edge?
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction: a JetStor deployment used Ultrastar drives for an 80PB government archive, underscoring demand from enterprise/archival customers for WD’s high‑capacity disks. JetStor Delivers 80PB High-Density Archive for Government Agency Using WD’s Trusted High-Capacity Ultrastar Drives
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term performance context: retrospectives comparing 10‑year returns show WDC has benefited from the AI/data center cycle but remains cyclical — useful for investors sizing multi‑year exposure rather than near‑term trading. Had You Invested $1,000 in Micron or Western Digital 10 Years Ago, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector technicals: semiconductor bear ETFs spiked briefly then faded as chip/storage names staged a bounce — this shows the move is partly technical/flow driven, not purely fundamental to WD. Semiconductor Whiplash: SOXS ETF Surge Fades Fast As Western Digital, ON, Chip ETFs Rebound
• Negative Sentiment: Broad pullback in memory/storage: coverage notes memory stocks cooled after a strong 2025 run — fading momentum and rotation are pressuring WDC alongside peers. Memory Stocks Were One of 2025’s Hottest Trades. Now They’ve Cooled Off.
• Negative Sentiment: Algorithmic/quant selling & profit‑taking have been cited as catalysts for the recent sharp swings; that same dynamic can amplify short-term downside even if fundamentals remain intact. Western Digital (WDC) slides as storage/memory trade cools and investors take profits
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term headlines show repeated volatility across Micron, Seagate, SanDisk and WDC — short-term traders should expect more whip‑saw action as the market digests AI capex timing and memory pricing. Memory chip stocks are falling again: Why Micron, SanDisk, WDC, and Seagate keep getting hammered

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 229.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $307,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 93.6% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,376 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,840,000 after purchasing an additional 21,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its position in Western Digital by 69.2% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 9,402 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,845 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $101.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $274.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.77 earnings per share. Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 5th were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.02%.

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.