Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday morning.

WDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Summit Insights downgraded shares of Western Digital from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Down 7.4%

Western Digital stock opened at $496.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 2.14. Western Digital has a 12 month low of $73.14 and a 12 month high of $799.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $556.08 and its 200-day moving average is $430.29.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.66 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Bruce E. Kiddoo sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.52, for a total value of $396,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062,813.56. The trade was a 16.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 2,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $556.24, for a total transaction of $1,376,694.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,366,060.96. This represents a 2.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 25,093 shares of company stock worth $11,650,737 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Western Digital by 28.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 90 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 45.5% in the second quarter. Ares Financial Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital continues to benefit from improving earnings expectations, stronger storage pricing, and AI-driven cloud demand. Recent coverage characterized the company as a momentum candidate, while its latest results exceeded analyst estimates and management provided a strong fiscal 2027 outlook. Why Western Digital Is a Great Momentum Choice
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentators remain constructive on the broader memory and storage cycle, citing supply constraints, rising demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure, and potential for continued earnings growth. Jim Cramer on Memory and Storage Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: The stock’s recent rally was supported by bullish commentary about a potential memory bottleneck and by optimism surrounding the company’s margins and forecast-beating outlook. Those gains have left WDC and its peers more sensitive to profit-taking and changes in investor sentiment. Western Digital Stock Jumps as Memory Rally Accelerates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Treasury yields are pressuring richly valued AI and semiconductor-related shares, encouraging investors to rotate away from the extended memory trade. Western Digital is declining alongside Micron and SanDisk despite the absence of a company-specific negative announcement. Higher Rates Test the Memory Boom
• Negative Sentiment: A Wall Street Journal report concerning previously undisclosed AI spending commitments appears to have intensified concerns about AI-related valuations and corporate spending, weighing on the entire memory and storage group. WSJ Report Sends Memory Stocks Down

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.