Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Down 7.9% – Time to Sell?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price dropped 7.9% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $510.37 and last traded at $532.10. 7,956,175 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 9,153,423 shares. The stock had previously closed at $577.46.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Negative Sentiment: Western Digital was caught in a broad selloff in memory and storage stocks after Samsung’s earnings and guidance triggered profit-taking across the sector. Western Digital Stock Drops 8.5%: Why Samsung’s Profit Surge Triggered a Tech Selloff
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary point to a broader “memory reset,” with concerns about valuation fatigue and a possible AI hardware supply-glut narrative pressuring the group. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Plunges 9% Following Samsung Report Sparking Memory Chip Selloff
• Neutral Sentiment: Some recent coverage remains constructive on the longer-term setup, saying Western Digital and peers may benefit from tight supply, strong AI-related demand, and bullish analyst targets that extend as high as $900. Flash Crash or Cash? The AI Hardware Reset Investors Can’t Ignore (WDC)

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $493.52.

Western Digital Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $543.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $363.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares in the company, valued at $2,062,813.56. This trade represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Western Digital by 11.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $456,884,000 after purchasing an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in Western Digital by 4,923.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $409,049,000 after buying an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $195,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Western Digital by 70.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,972,703 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $512,107,000 after buying an additional 1,228,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.