Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 5.8% Higher – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded up 5.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $487.29 and last traded at $486.46. 4,975,176 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 9,083,321 shares. The stock had previously closed at $459.62.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is bouncing with the broader memory sector, as investors buy back into the group after several days of weakness. SanDisk Soars 9%, Western Digital Rallies 5%, Micron Rises 3% as Memory Trade Reawakens
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary suggests the stock is still benefiting from the “AI storage” narrative, with investors focused on strong data-center demand, tighter hard-drive supply, and better pricing trends. Western Digital jumps 4.6% as AI-storage pricing narrative stays hot after upbeat guidance and capital-structure moves
• Positive Sentiment: Customer survey results released by Western Digital highlighted growing enterprise focus on scale, economics, and reliability in AI infrastructure planning, reinforcing the company’s relevance in AI-driven storage buildouts. WD Customer Survey Highlights Growing Focus on Scale, Economics, and Reliability in AI Infrastructure Planning
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains broadly constructive, with multiple recent buy/overweight ratings and price targets above current levels, which may be helping support the stock. Western Digital jumps 4.6% as AI-storage pricing narrative stays hot after upbeat guidance and capital-structure moves
• Negative Sentiment: Earlier in the session and over the prior day, WDC had been under pressure as traders worried about a potential decline in memory chip prices from expanded production capacity in China and a broader cooling in the AI-infrastructure rally. Seagate and Western Digital Stocks Trade Down, What You Need To Know

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on WDC shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Western Digital from $320.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $364.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $264.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $167.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total value of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during the first quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.