Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 4.9% Higher – Here’s Why
by Scott Moore · The Cerbat GemWestern Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report)’s stock price shot up 4.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $729.00 and last traded at $675.39. Approximately 11,677,955 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 29% from the average daily volume of 9,058,049 shares. The stock had previously closed at $643.83.
Key Stories Impacting Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Micron’s better-than-expected quarter and management’s upbeat commentary on AI memory demand sparked a broad rally in memory and storage stocks, benefiting Western Digital as part of the same trade. Article Title
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators said the Micron report helped “justify elevated valuations” in memory stocks, which supports Western Digital’s recent move higher. Article Title
- Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted a hammer chart pattern and rising earnings estimate revisions for WDC, suggesting the stock may be finding support and setting up for a trend reversal. Article Title
- Positive Sentiment: Another bullish note said Western Digital’s AI-driven HDD roadmap and strong cloud demand could give it more upside than some data-center peers. Article Title
- Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary from investors and strategists has also pointed to Apple’s warning about rising memory costs as evidence of pricing power across the sector, which could further support WDC. Article Title
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research firms recently commented on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.
Get Our Latest Analysis on WDC
Western Digital Stock Performance
The company’s fifty day moving average price is $507.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $232.79 billion, a PE ratio of 40.32 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during 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%. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.
Western Digital Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were given a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.
Insider Transactions at Western Digital
In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% 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 a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth increased its holdings in Western Digital by 163.8% in the 4th quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA raised its position in Western Digital by 6,700.0% in the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.