Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 5.9% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price rose 5.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $468.19 and last traded at $467.46. 5,754,969 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 8,695,177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $441.57.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: A broad rally in memory stocks lifted Western Digital alongside SK Hynix and Seagate. Investors appear to be responding to stronger memory pricing, supply tightness and continued demand from artificial-intelligence data centers. SK Hynix Surges 7% as Memory Bid Widens Beyond NAND; Seagate Rallies 5%
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s investment case is supported by AI-driven storage growth, higher hard-disk-drive pricing and expanding margins. Recent earnings also showed revenue growth and earnings above consensus, while management’s next-quarter guidance points to continued momentum. WDC Stock’s Big Rally: Buy, Sell, or Hold After a 70% 6-Month Surge?
• Positive Sentiment: China’s progress in memory manufacturing is not viewed as an immediate threat because Western Digital and peers reportedly have capacity committed under multiyear contracts. That could help protect near-term pricing and margins. Why China’s Memory Chip Breakthrough Won’t Crash the Market
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain broadly constructive, with reported price targets above the current trading level, but the stock’s sharp six-month advance has made expectations demanding. Investors are watching whether future earnings estimates can justify the valuation. WDC Stock’s Big Rally: Buy, Sell, or Hold After a 70% 6-Month Surge?
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider transactions have consisted of sales rather than purchases, including a director’s sale of roughly $2.5 million in shares. Insider selling and profit-taking previously pressured WDC, while the stock’s elevated valuation leaves it vulnerable if storage-sector momentum fades. Western Digital Falls as Sector Weakness and Insider Selling Weigh on Shares

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group cut their target price on Western Digital from $560.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Up 5.9%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $506.03 and a 200-day moving average of $445.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the sale, the insider owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. This represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 23,210 shares of company stock worth $10,440,960 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 41,988 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 3,019 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Western Digital by 229.7% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,388 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth about $307,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $292,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 55.3% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,374 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $152,000 after buying an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.