Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $189.0476.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WDC. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Western Digital to $228.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 price target on Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Digital from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In related news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 2,801 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.57, for a total value of $449,756.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 144,596 shares in the company, valued at $23,217,779.72. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 26,369 shares of company stock valued at $4,013,785 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at about $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $220,680,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted 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 worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake 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 worth $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at $221,800,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:WDC opened at $221.51 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $230.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $175.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.02. The company has a market capitalization of $75.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.78.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a net margin of 21.37% and a return on equity of 30.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.78 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th were paid a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 7.28%.

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.