Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 4.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shot up 4.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $799.87 and last traded at $746.23. Approximately 16,539,503 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 85% from the average session volume of 8,937,366 shares. The stock had previously closed at $712.13.

Key Stories Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is being highlighted as a momentum stock with additional upside potential, helped by strong investor interest in AI-driven storage demand. Seagate & Another AI Memory Momentum Stock With Big Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Shares are getting a boost from sector-wide strength in memory and storage after Apple’s reported comments on unavoidable memory price hikes lifted sentiment across the group. MU, WDC, STX: Why Are AI Memory and Storage Stocks Rising Today, 6/18/2026?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst coverage has reinforced the bullish case, with price-target hikes and articles arguing that WDC’s earnings power could remain strong as pricing improves. Morgan Stanley Raises Price Target on Western Digital (WDC). Here is Why
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital is also being viewed as a beneficiary of AI and cloud demand, with multiple reports pointing to improving earnings and sustained storage demand across data centers. Western Digital Earnings Nearly Double on AI, Cloud Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader market rotation has favored financials over tech at times, which could create some volatility for semiconductor and storage names even as WDC’s stock-specific story remains strong. Financials Rose, Tech Fell Before Kevin Warsh Fed Debut

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Western Digital Trading Up 4.8%

The firm has a market cap of $257.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.55 and a beta of 2.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $470.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.Western Digital’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a $0.15 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total value of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $63,640,420.80. This represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $5,196,484,000 after acquiring an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Western Digital by 11.2% during 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,737,000 after buying an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares in 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.