Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $110.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $93.50 and last traded at $93.29, with a volume of 8270469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $92.04.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on WDC. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 3,160 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.68, for a total transaction of $239,148.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,388,460.80. The trade was a 9.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total transaction of $1,051,930.26. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. This represents a 9.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,975 shares of company stock valued at $3,935,806 in the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at about $220,680,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after buying an additional 2,910,062 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in Western Digital by 130.0% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $203,337,000 after buying an additional 2,842,822 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Western Digital by 107.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $136,222,000 after buying an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,897,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $33.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.54.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.