Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

25 Jun 2026, 12:05 by Doug Wharley · The Cerbat Gem

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $643.83, but opened at $729.00. Western Digital shares last traded at $672.8550, with a volume of 2,199,111 shares trading hands.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

Positive Sentiment: Micron’s strong quarterly results and upbeat guidance triggered a sector-wide relief rally, boosting Western Digital as investors bet the AI memory boom will support higher pricing and demand. Micron’s Blowout Q3 Report Ripples Through Memory Stocks SanDisk, Western Digital
Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary are highlighting WDC’s AI-driven HDD roadmap, rising cloud demand, and upward earnings estimate revisions, which support the case for further upside. Western Digital vs. NetApp: Which Data Center Stock is the Smarter Bet?
Positive Sentiment: A technical “hammer” chart pattern is being interpreted as a sign that Western Digital may have found support after a recent pullback, hinting at a possible near-term reversal. Here’s Why Western Digital (WDC) Is a Great ‘Buy the Bottom’ Stock Now
Neutral Sentiment: Some articles are cautioning that after a huge run, WDC could face volatility or a reversal if memory-sector enthusiasm cools, even though the broader setup remains constructive. Soaring Western Digital stock faces some major risks: is a reversal coming?

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDC. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $488.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $450.46.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Western Digital

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $507.39 and a 200-day moving average of $339.36. The stock has a market cap of $235.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This is an increase 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 news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total transaction of $235,699.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total value of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 18.8% during the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,073 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,079,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Western Digital by 8.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,703,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Western Digital by 6.4% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,613 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,789,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

(Get Free Report)

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.