Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 5.9% – Still a Buy?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares traded up 5.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $468.19 and last traded at $467.46. Approximately 5,754,969 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average daily volume of 8,695,177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $441.57.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Broad memory-sector rally: Strength in SK Hynix, Seagate and other memory names helped lift storage stocks. Investors appear to be betting that strong AI infrastructure demand will support pricing and earnings across the sector. SK Hynix Surges 7% as Memory Bid Widens Beyond NAND; Seagate Rallies 5%
• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven storage outlook: Western Digital’s exposure to data-center demand, rising hard-disk-drive pricing and expanding margins supports the bullish case. Its latest quarterly results also exceeded analyst expectations for both earnings and revenue, while management’s current-quarter EPS guidance remains strong. WDC Stock’s Big Rally: Buy, Sell, or Hold After a 70% 6-Month Surge?
• Positive Sentiment: Limited near-term competitive threat: An analysis argues that advances by China’s memory industry may not immediately pressure Western Digital because capacity is reportedly committed under binding, multiyear contracts. That could help protect pricing and margins in the near term. Why China’s Memory Chip Breakthrough Won’t Crash the Market
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation and earnings expectations: WDC has already gained substantially over the past six months, making the stock more dependent on continued earnings upgrades and strong guidance. Analysts remain constructive overall, but the large range of price targets signals considerable uncertainty. WDC Stock’s Big Rally: Buy, Sell, or Hold After a 70% 6-Month Surge?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Recent filings show substantial selling by company insiders, including a director’s sale of approximately $2.5 million in shares. While not evidence of deteriorating operations, the activity can weigh on sentiment after a major rally. Western Digital Falls as Sector Weakness and Insider Selling Weigh on Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Post-earnings hesitation: WDC remained below its level immediately following the latest earnings report, indicating that investors may already have priced in much of the AI and pricing recovery story. Western Digital Down Since Last Earnings Report

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on shares of Western Digital and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Fox Advisors lowered shares of Western Digital from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $534.56.

Western Digital Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $508.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $445.56. The stock has a market cap of $161.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 2.48%.

Insider Transactions at Western Digital

In other news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total value of $8,899,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,210 shares of company stock valued at $10,440,960. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Western Digital during the first quarter worth $32,000. 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.