Rosenblatt Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price target decreased by Rosenblatt Securities from $900.00 to $800.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the data storage provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price indicates a potential upside of 84.20% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $610.00 to $732.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Susquehanna upped their price target on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Fox Advisors downgraded Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Western Digital from $575.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

WDC stock opened at $434.30 on Thursday. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The company has a market capitalization of $149.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.94 and a beta of 2.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $565.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.35.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The company’s revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares in the company, valued at $47,366,060.96. This trade represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,093 shares of company stock valued at $2,751,337. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Avion Wealth grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of approximately $3.75 billion, up about 44% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $3.56 per share—both ahead of Wall Street expectations. Growth was supported by AI-related cloud storage demand, stronger pricing, and higher-capacity hard-disk drives. Western Digital Q4 Earnings Beat as Revenue Jumps 44% on Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted strong visibility into AI-storage demand, with some customers negotiating capacity commitments through 2031. The company also expects continued margin expansion, while analysts remain broadly constructive; recent price targets include $630 from Baird and a $575 median across 15 analysts. Western Digital Says AI Customers Are Already Negotiating Storage Deals Through 2031
• Neutral Sentiment: The selloff is part of a broader rotation within semiconductor and memory stocks. Investors have been shifting toward AI networking leaders, while comparing Western Digital’s results with stronger results from rival Seagate Technology. Western Digital Slumps Despite Q2 Beat as Analysts Highlight Peer Seagate’s Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, payable September 17 to shareholders of record September 8. The dividend provides a modest shareholder return but is unlikely to drive the near-term trading reaction.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors viewed fiscal-first-quarter 2027 gross-margin guidance of 55%–56% as insufficiently strong after the stock’s dramatic advance and elevated expectations. Although the outlook implies sequential improvement, it trailed the bar set by Seagate and was interpreted as evidence that the recent margin expansion may be stabilizing. Western Digital Shares Fall as Margin Outlook Tempers Strong Q4 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking intensified because Western Digital had already rallied sharply on the AI-storage theme. The strong earnings beat therefore failed to exceed the market’s unusually high expectations, prompting a valuation reset and technical concerns around support levels. Sandisk, Western Digital Drag on Chip Stocks as Lofty Expectations Eclipse Strong Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Reported insider activity has been heavily tilted toward selling, with 129 sales and no purchases over the past six months. While such transactions may reflect diversification or compensation, the lack of insider buying adds to near-term investor caution.

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.