Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) were up 10.2% during trading on Wednesday after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Sanford C. Bernstein now has a $340.00 price target on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $296.62 and last traded at $297.9940. Approximately 2,335,511 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 9,836,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $270.49.
Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on WDC. UBS Group set a $306.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Argus set a $300.00 price objective on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Western Digital to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.75.
View Our Latest Analysis on Western Digital
Insider Activity at Western Digital
Trending Headlines about Western Digital
Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded WDC to Outperform and doubled its price target to ~$340, calling the recent sell‑off an overreaction — this analyst vote of confidence is driving fresh buying interest. ‘An Attractive Entry Point’: Bernstein Upgrades Western Digital (WDC) Stock Following Sell-Off
- Positive Sentiment: Product roadmap: coverage notes WDC’s next‑gen HAMR and ePMR drives could give it a capacity/margin edge for AI and cloud data centers — a clear fundamental tailwind if adoption and shipments scale. Will Next-Gen HAMR & ePMR Drives Give Western Digital a Storage Edge?
- Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction: a JetStor deployment used Ultrastar drives for an 80PB government archive, underscoring demand from enterprise/archival customers for WD’s high‑capacity disks. JetStor Delivers 80PB High-Density Archive for Government Agency Using WD’s Trusted High-Capacity Ultrastar Drives
- Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term performance context: retrospectives comparing 10‑year returns show WDC has benefited from the AI/data center cycle but remains cyclical — useful for investors sizing multi‑year exposure rather than near‑term trading. Had You Invested $1,000 in Micron or Western Digital 10 Years Ago, Here’s How Much You’d Have Today
- Neutral Sentiment: Sector technicals: semiconductor bear ETFs spiked briefly then faded as chip/storage names staged a bounce — this shows the move is partly technical/flow driven, not purely fundamental to WD. Semiconductor Whiplash: SOXS ETF Surge Fades Fast As Western Digital, ON, Chip ETFs Rebound
- Negative Sentiment: Broad pullback in memory/storage: coverage notes memory stocks cooled after a strong 2025 run — fading momentum and rotation are pressuring WDC alongside peers. Memory Stocks Were One of 2025’s Hottest Trades. Now They’ve Cooled Off.
- Negative Sentiment: Algorithmic/quant selling & profit‑taking have been cited as catalysts for the recent sharp swings; that same dynamic can amplify short-term downside even if fundamentals remain intact. Western Digital (WDC) slides as storage/memory trade cools and investors take profits
- Negative Sentiment: Near-term headlines show repeated volatility across Micron, Seagate, SanDisk and WDC — short-term traders should expect more whip‑saw action as the market digests AI capex timing and memory pricing. Memory chip stocks are falling again: Why Micron, SanDisk, WDC, and Seagate keep getting hammered
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. ORG Partners LLC grew its position in Western Digital by 124.5% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Western Digital by 551.4% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.
Western Digital Stock Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $101.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $274.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.78.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The company had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.77 EPS. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Western Digital Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 5th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 5.02%.
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.
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