Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 1.1% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 1.1% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $546.68 and last traded at $530.60. Approximately 6,244,201 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 31% from the average daily volume of 9,004,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $524.65.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s latest results showed stronger-than-expected revenue and margin expansion, reinforcing the case that pricing and cost controls are working and that earnings power is improving. Can Western Digital Deliver Continued Gross Margin Improvement?
• Positive Sentiment: AI data-center demand continues to support the broader storage sector, with investors viewing Western Digital as a beneficiary of rising HDD and NAND needs tied to AI infrastructure buildouts. Hard Disk Drives Are Critical for AI but Western Digital Stock Is Still Underappreciated Here
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage has been supportive, with some commentary calling WDC “underappreciated” and highlighting the stock’s participation in the ongoing memory and storage rally. Micron’s $1 Trillion Memory Melt-Up
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital also boosted its quarterly dividend, which can signal confidence in cash flow and capital returns. The Great AI Rotation: Cashing In on Data
• Neutral Sentiment: An insider sale by Cynthia Tregillis was disclosed, but it was small and made under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan, so it does not look like a major bearish signal. SEC filing

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus set a $300.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Mizuho set a $470.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.50.

Western Digital Trading Up 0.0%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $391.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.66 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.99%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 121,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. The trade was a 7.12% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 53,655 shares of company stock valued at $18,179,038 in the last quarter. 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 bought and sold shares of WDC. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth about $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Western Digital by 853.8% in the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 33.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Western Digital by 80.2% during the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.