Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 2.8% Higher – Time to Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price traded up 2.8% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $564.14 and last traded at $546.20. 5,976,305 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 8,940,161 shares. The stock had previously closed at $531.21.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles framed Western Digital as a beneficiary of the AI storage supercycle, with cloud computing, AI, IoT, and data-center demand expected to support growth. 3 Storage Devices Stocks to Buy as the Industry Gains Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital’s Computex messaging reinforced that AI depends on data storage as much as compute, keeping the company tied to the broader AI infrastructure boom. WD at Computex 2026: AI Doesn’t Just Run on Compute – It Runs on Data
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary pieces continued to argue that the AI storage trade still has room to run, helping sustain momentum in Western Digital and peers like Micron and SanDisk. Western Digital: The AI Storage Trade Still Has Room To Run
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital also drew favorable attention from a Zacks industry outlook highlighting the computer-storage group as a momentum area. Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights Western Digital, Sandisk and Netlist
• Neutral Sentiment: The company presented at the Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference, which kept WDC in the spotlight but did not introduce a clearly new catalyst. Western Digital Corporation (WDC) Presents at Bank of America 2026 Global Technology Conference Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by Vidyadhara K. Gubbi may slightly dampen sentiment, though the sale was relatively small versus the remaining stake. SEC filing for insider sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen increased their target price on Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research set a $250.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued 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 $424.33.

Western Digital Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $400.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62 and a beta of 2.13.

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

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total transaction of $2,174,815.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 99,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,347,148.32. The trade was a 7.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 37,408 shares of company stock worth $14,707,666. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,282,393 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,196,484,000 after buying an additional 243,177 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $791,317,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital during the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,884,000 after acquiring an additional 384,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.