Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Sets New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

by · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $227.66 and last traded at $226.8960, with a volume of 744362 shares. The stock had previously closed at $215.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on WDC. Mizuho set a $240.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.50.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital

Western Digital Trading Up 5.0%

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $173.38 and a 200-day moving average of $122.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The company had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 4th were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.28%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,524.46. This trade represents a 31.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.69, for a total transaction of $3,013,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 645,467 shares in the company, valued at $97,265,422.23. This represents a 3.01% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,369 shares of company stock worth $4,013,785. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $220,680,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,926.3% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter worth $221,800,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Company Profile

(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.

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