Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 9.8% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price rose 9.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $594.83 and last traded at $592.0530. 1,553,141 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 9,118,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $539.00.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other analysts turned more constructive on Western Digital, lifting price targets and reinforcing a Moderate Buy view, which is helping fuel buying interest in the stock. BofA Raises Price Target for Western Digital Corp. (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks are broadly stronger, with Western Digital, SanDisk, and Micron all trading higher as UBS, Citi, and BofA grow more bullish on the memory cycle and demand outlook. SanDisk Rebounds 5%, Western Digital Gains 5%, Micron Climbs 3% as UBS, Citi, BofA Turn Bullish on Memory
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary is tying Western Digital’s strength to the AI trade regaining momentum, which is supporting optimism around high-performance storage demand. Western Digital, Sandisk, Micron, Nvidia, SpaceX, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage also continues to rate Western Digital favorably overall, with the company receiving an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy,” which supports a constructive longer-term outlook. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary has also highlighted Western Digital as an AI beneficiary and discussed its post-rally outlook, but these pieces are more thematic than directly market-moving. Western Digital: Riding The AI Wave, Not Chasing It
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent analysis warned that Western Digital could fall if the AI trade cools, though that concern is being outweighed today by bullish analyst upgrades and stronger memory-sector sentiment. Western Digital Falls Over The Cliff As AI Trade Cools – What’s Next?

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WDC. UBS Group increased their price objective on Western Digital from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $550.00 to $685.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.52.

Western Digital Trading Up 7.8%

The company has a market cap of $200.29 billion, a PE ratio of 34.62 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $539.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $360.51.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of Western Digital 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 owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 399.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $3,900,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at $2,270,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 75.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 4,068 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $793,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,122,095 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $193,303,000 after purchasing an additional 282,156 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.