Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $389.74.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDC opened at $432.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $314.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.99. The company has a market cap of $146.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $43.60 and a 12 month high of $446.62.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 49.24% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.99%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total value of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,259,473.07. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 92,711 shares of company stock worth $24,300,404 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter valued at $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Western Digital by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat expectations: Q3 EPS $2.72 and revenue $3.34B, both above consensus, and management raised FY‑Q4 guidance (EPS and revenue) — this underpins the bullish case for continued AI/cloud storage demand. Earnings & press materials
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades/target raises followed the quarter — Citi hiked its target to $500 (Buy) citing stronger visibility into AI-driven HDD demand, lifting investor optimism. Citi raises target to $500
• Positive Sentiment: Other firms (Rosenblatt, TD Cowen and others) boosted targets or reiterated Buy as AI/data‑center demand drives margin expansion and share‑buyback capacity; the company also announced a quarterly dividend increase, signalling confidence in cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry signal — peers (SanDisk/Seagate) also reported strong results and demand commentary, confirming sector‑wide AI storage tailwinds but raising questions about how much of that is already priced in. Reuters: sector demand
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction was mixed — the stock slipped after the beat as some traders engaged in “buy the rumor, sell the news” profit‑taking following an enormous YTD run; elevated expectations mean strong results may not produce further immediate upside. Yahoo: stock falls despite beat
• Negative Sentiment: Not all analyst moves are bullish: UBS raised its target to $375 but kept a Neutral rating — that level implies downside from current prices and provides a near‑term anchor for traders focused on risk management. Benzinga: UBS target

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.