Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Down 1.4% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares traded down 1.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $397.02 and last traded at $405.42. 7,151,892 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 8,641,803 shares. The stock had previously closed at $411.04.

Key Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Hyperscale data-center expansion continues to drive demand for Western Digital’s hard-disk storage products. Analysts believe disciplined industry supply could help sustain pricing and margins as AI infrastructure investment grows. Can Supply Discipline Sustain AI Storage Momentum for Western Digital
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital and Seagate have reportedly avoided adding substantial capacity while storage demand is strong. That restraint could support tighter supply, stronger pricing and improved profitability if AI-related demand remains durable. Seagate and Western Digital Capacity Strategy
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s investment case is increasingly tied to data-center storage rather than consumer electronics. The company offers large-scale hard-disk capacity that Apple does not, but the comparison highlights how different pricing, demand and capital-investment dynamics are across hardware markets. What Does Western Digital Offer That Apple Does Not?
• Neutral Sentiment: Product comparisons between Samsung’s 9100 Pro and Western Digital’s WD Black SN8100 show continued competition in consumer solid-state drives, but the review is unlikely to materially change the company’s broader AI-storage investment thesis. Samsung 9100 Pro vs WD Black SN8100
• Negative Sentiment: Toshiba’s plan to nearly double hard-disk output for AI data centers has raised concerns that additional supply could weaken pricing and challenge Western Digital’s current valuation. The stock has also faced a broader memory and storage-sector selloff. Is Western Digital Fully Valued After Toshiba’s HDD Expansion Plan?
• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital’s strong AI-storage outlook carries concentration risk: one unpredictable customer group reportedly represents 89% of revenue, making the company vulnerable to changes in hyperscaler spending or bargaining power. Western Digital and AI Storage Concentration Risk

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WDC. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $590.00 to $770.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Western Digital from $650.00 to $715.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Fox Advisors lowered Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $620.67.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $148.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 2.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $459.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $474.72.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.66 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total transaction of $194,918.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,096,736. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,437 shares of company stock worth $11,461,345. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $885,565,000. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter worth about $350,403,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $627,606,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and supplies data-storage products and solutions. The company’s portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs) used in cloud and enterprise data centers, personal computers, network-attached storage systems and other applications that require high-capacity data storage.

Western Digital markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD and Ultrastar. Its offerings include enterprise and data-center HDDs, storage products for business and consumer systems, and related technologies designed to help organizations store, manage and access large volumes of data.

Founded in 1970, Western Digital has evolved from a maker of electronic components into a global data-storage company.