Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Up 3.7% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) traded up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $474.54 and last traded at $464.60. Approximately 8,376,846 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 8,606,659 shares. The stock had previously closed at $448.17.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure demand is the main catalyst. Analysts say sovereign-AI customers, neocloud providers and physical-AI applications could broaden Western Digital’s addressable market. Tight HDD supply may also improve pricing power and margins. Can Sovereign AI and Neoclouds Extend Western Digital’s Growth Run?
• Positive Sentiment: High-capacity storage is gaining visibility. Western Digital and Seagate showcased large-capacity storage products at the AI Infrastructure Summit, highlighting the role of HDDs in data centers that must store rapidly expanding AI datasets. WD And Seagate Showed High Capacity Storage At The AI Infra Summit
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum supported WDC. Western Digital advanced alongside broader technology strength and a rally across much of the memory complex, as investors anticipated accelerating enterprise-storage requirements from AI inference workloads. What’s Going on With Western Digital Stock on Monday?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent market performance was strong. Coverage noted that WDC outperformed the broader market in the latest session, reinforcing investor interest in the company’s multi-year AI-storage growth story. Western Digital Surpasses Market Returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer comparisons offer limited direct impact. A head-to-head survey compared Western Digital with Xtend AI Robotics, but the article does not identify a specific new catalyst for WDC. Xtend AI Robotics and Western Digital Head to Head Survey
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s discounted 6TB My Passport drive may stimulate consumer demand, though the promotion appears to be an Amazon pricing action rather than a companywide strategic announcement. WD 6TB My Passport Portable Hard Drive Price Drop
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a risk after the major rally. Commentary questioned whether current share prices are fully supported by earnings after WDC’s substantial three-year advance. Any slowdown in AI-storage spending or HDD pricing could trigger profit-taking. Western Digital Stock May Be Undervalued After Its Huge Three Year Run

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $630.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $590.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $676.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Trading Up 3.7%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $477.26 and a 200 day moving average of $459.75. The firm has a market cap of $160.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 2.13.

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

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. The trade was a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.20, for a total value of $194,918.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 111,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,096,736. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,602,927,000. Anther Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $885,565,000. Finally, Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth approximately $350,403,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.