Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Lowered to “Buy” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

WDC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Summit Insights downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock opened at $508.80 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $556.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $426.77. The company has a market cap of $175.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital has a fifty-two week low of $73.14 and a fifty-two week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Western Digital will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,093 shares of company stock valued at $11,650,737. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 71.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,270,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after buying an additional 282,156 shares in the last quarter. CloudAlpha Capital Management Limited Hong Kong bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,889,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 145.8% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 5,950 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sector rally supports WDC. SanDisk’s bullish long-term growth targets, including expectations for sustained flash-memory demand, boosted sentiment toward storage companies. Western Digital benefited from the read-through, particularly as investors anticipate continued AI infrastructure spending on HDD and NAND storage. SanDisk outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and quantitative signals improved. Zacks upgraded Western Digital to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. WDC was also included among Zacks’ top momentum stocks, while JPMorgan reportedly raised its price target to $650. Zacks upgrade article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent results provide fundamental support. Western Digital’s latest quarter exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Stronger pricing, high-capacity drive demand and AI-driven storage requirements are supporting expectations for continued growth. WDC sector rally article
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning is mixed: JPMorgan and Capital World Investors added shares, while several large investors reduced holdings. The conflicting activity does not establish a clear institutional trend.
• Negative Sentiment: Elevated expectations remain a risk. Despite the earnings beat, WDC shares previously fell sharply because management’s guidance did not exceed demanding investor expectations. Concerns remain about moderating sequential growth, NAND pricing volatility and whether the AI-driven storage cycle has peaked. WDC earnings reaction article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling may weigh on sentiment. CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares for approximately $8.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. Broader data shows substantial insider selling and no reported insider purchases during the past six months. CEO insider sale article

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.