Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 7.5% – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded down 7.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $291.18 and last traded at $293.10. 12,781,805 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 26% from the average session volume of 10,172,191 shares. The stock had previously closed at $316.93.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Hyperscaler partnerships are strengthening revenue visibility for fiscal 2026 and support Western Digital’s high-capacity storage roadmap for AI/data-center customers — a demand-side fundamental that underpins longer-term sales growth. Western Digital’s Hyperscaler Momentum Boosts Revenue Visibility
• Positive Sentiment: Technical momentum remains constructive — analysts and chart watchers cite a recent golden-cross (50-day SMA crossing above 200-day SMA), which can attract trend-following capital and support the stock on pullbacks. These 2 Data Storage Stocks Just Flashed Golden Crosses
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and momentum are now front-and-center — recent outsized gains have left investors parsing whether current prices already reflect near-term demand upside; some coverage frames current moves as momentum-driven rather than news-driven. Western Digital (WDC) Valuation Check After Strong Recent Share Price Momentum
• Negative Sentiment: Profit-taking and a “reset” in expectations after the AI-driven run-up appear to be the immediate catalysts; a recent conference presentation was treated by some traders as a sell-the-news event rather than a fresh demand surprise. Additionally, management’s move to monetize remaining SanDisk stake (cash-raising to reduce debt) may be viewed as balance-sheet cleanup rather than an earnings accelerator. Heavy insider selling (many recent open-market sales, few/zero purchases) adds to negative perception. Western Digital (WDC) slides as investors extend a pullback after a sharp AI-driven run-up

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Western Digital from $200.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial set a $310.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned 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 $265.58.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $263.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.69. The stock has a market cap of $99.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 5.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,643,630.14. This trade represents a 7.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $9,616,638.18. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 92,795 shares of company stock worth $24,265,884. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after purchasing an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $791,317,000. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 8.5% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 5,535,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $354,247,000 after buying an additional 431,419 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.