Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 4.5% – Here’s What Happened

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price fell 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $416.00 and last traded at $426.94. 6,720,395 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 22% from the average daily volume of 8,598,659 shares. The stock had previously closed at $447.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Summit Insights downgraded Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $487.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $455.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.13.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total transaction of $825,466.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at $37,052,185.77. This trade represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Gables Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.