Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 7.9% – Should You Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price dropped 7.9% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $510.37 and last traded at $532.10. Approximately 7,956,175 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 9,153,423 shares. The stock had previously closed at $577.46.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was caught in a broad selloff in memory and storage stocks after Samsung’s earnings and guidance triggered profit-taking across the sector. Western Digital Stock Drops 8.5%: Why Samsung’s Profit Surge Triggered a Tech Selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary point to a broader “memory reset,” with concerns about valuation fatigue and a possible AI hardware supply-glut narrative pressuring the group. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Plunges 9% Following Samsung Report Sparking Memory Chip Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Some recent coverage remains constructive on the longer-term setup, saying Western Digital and peers may benefit from tight supply, strong AI-related demand, and bullish analyst targets that extend as high as $900. Flash Crash or Cash? The AI Hardware Reset Investors Can’t Ignore (WDC)

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $493.52.

Western Digital Trading Down 7.9%

The company has a market cap of $183.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.77 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $543.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $363.35.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Avion Wealth raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the 3rd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. 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.