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

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s stock price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $503.66 and last traded at $494.09. 5,586,659 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 9,269,381 shares. The stock had previously closed at $488.74.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven demand for memory and storage remains a major tailwind for Western Digital, with the company benefiting from the broader buildout in data-center and AI infrastructure. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent market commentary continues to group WDC with other winners in the memory-chip rally, reflecting strong investor interest in the theme. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital was included in a sector-risk discussion ahead of a Fed leadership change, but the article focused more on macro uncertainty than on company-specific fundamentals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are taking profits after the memory-supercycle trade cooled, causing a broad pullback in WDC and other storage stocks. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate report said Western Digital dropped alongside Micron and SanDisk as the memory-stock rally paused, underscoring how dependent the shares remain on sector momentum. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, May 1st. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Western Digital from $335.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. New Street Research set a $250.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $338.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.06. The company has a market capitalization of $170.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.50 and a beta of 2.10.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Research analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 9,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.27, for a total transaction of $2,501,349.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 121,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,643,630.14. This represents a 7.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,679 shares of company stock valued at $18,049,314. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. CI Investments Inc. boosted its position in Western Digital by 1,356.6% during the 1st quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 28,914 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,821,000 after acquiring an additional 26,929 shares in the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 231.1% in the 1st quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 20,720 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,605,000 after acquiring an additional 14,462 shares in the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth $22,476,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 77.1% during the first quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 31,429 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $8,501,000 after purchasing an additional 13,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its position in Western Digital by 19.5% during the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 20,683 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

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.