Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 4.6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price traded up 4.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $741.85 and last traded at $712.13. Approximately 13,383,801 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 51% from the average daily volume of 8,872,510 shares. The stock had previously closed at $681.08.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported earnings that nearly doubled, with results benefiting from surging AI and cloud demand for storage products, reinforcing the view that the company is in the middle of a powerful cyclical upswing. Western Digital Earnings Nearly Double on AI, Cloud Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market-commentary pieces described Western Digital as a strong momentum name, with fresh price-target optimism and continued upside tied to improving profitability and demand trends. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Could Close Out the Week with Major Gains
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports noted that AI-driven storage demand is lifting the entire memory/storage group, with Western Digital and peers like Seagate and Micron benefiting from the same data-center growth story. MU, WDC, STX: Why Are AI Memory and Storage Stocks Rising Today, 6/18/2026?
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage linking Western Digital to AI memory momentum and higher pricing expectations suggests investors are betting that margins and earnings can keep expanding if demand stays tight. Seagate & Another AI Memory Momentum Stock With Big Upside

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WDC. Jefferies Financial Group set a $575.00 target price on Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research upgraded Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup upped their price target on Western Digital from $500.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Western Digital from $325.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $450.46.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $257.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.55 and a beta of 2.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $478.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.21.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. 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 business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 3.58%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $409,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,339,225 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares in the last quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new position in Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $221,800,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

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.