Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 7.1% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $601.00 and last traded at $577.46. 7,532,729 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 9,169,278 shares. The stock had previously closed at $539.00.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-related enthusiasm is boosting memory and storage stocks broadly, lifting Western Digital as investors buy into the idea that data-center and AI infrastructure demand will stay strong. The AI Trade Is Off to a Hot Start This Week as Chip, Memory Stocks Surge
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment appears to be improving, with Bank of America raising its price target and other reports noting a “moderate buy” consensus, reinforcing bullish expectations for WDC. BofA Raises Price Target for Western Digital Corp. (WDC)
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary points to stronger hard-disk-drive demand and tight supply, suggesting improved pricing power and earnings momentum for Western Digital after its recent restructuring. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges on Analyst Upgrades: Price Targets Reach $900
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was also cited among the day’s broader market movers, but this appears to be more a reflection of sector momentum than a company-specific catalyst. Terawulf, Ceva, Western Digital And Other Big Stocks Moving Higher On Monday

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on WDC shares. Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $493.52.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $539.71 and a 200-day moving average of $360.51. The company has a market capitalization of $199.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.48 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total transaction of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 4th quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in 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 valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in Western Digital during the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. 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.