Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 3.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price shot up 3.9% during trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $720.00 to $800.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $381.88 and last traded at $378.51. Approximately 8,431,627 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 8,639,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $364.32.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on WDC. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Summit Insights lowered shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $650.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.56.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total transaction of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 24,629 shares of company stock valued at $11,033,404 in the last ninety days. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Earnings optimism: Zacks says Western Digital has a strong earnings-surprise history and currently has the key factors that could support another beat. The company’s previous quarter exceeded both EPS and revenue expectations, with revenue rising 43.8% year over year. Why Western Digital Is Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates Again
• Positive Sentiment: AI storage demand: Western Digital is being viewed as an AI beneficiary as cloud providers seek higher-capacity hard drives and expand data-center infrastructure. Management previously forecast fiscal Q1 revenue growth of approximately 42% to 49% year over year, reinforcing expectations for strong results. Western Digital Rises Ahead of Earnings as Investors Bet on Strong Storage Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable analyst view: Bank of America raised its price target to $800 and maintained a Buy rating. Morgan Stanley also expects strong results and better-than-expected guidance, saying it would be an aggressive buyer despite lowering its WDC target to $643 from $676. Analyst Sees Upside for Seagate and Western Digital
• Neutral Sentiment: Near-term catalyst and volatility: Thursday’s earnings release is likely to determine whether the recent recovery can continue. Shares remain highly volatile and below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, making the report and management’s outlook especially important.
• Negative Sentiment: Spending risk: Jim Cramer warned that Western Digital could be vulnerable if data-center capacity growth or AI infrastructure spending slows, highlighting the stock’s dependence on continued capital investment. Cramer Warns About Data-Center Spending Risk
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Reported insider activity shows 109 sales and no purchases over the past six months, a potential cautionary signal, although such transactions may reflect compensation or portfolio diversification rather than a fundamental outlook.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 28.6% during the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Ares Financial Consulting LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 45.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Western Digital by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $439.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $479.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 2.11.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.48%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.