Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Has Average Target Price of $534.56 According to Analysts

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $534.56.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 target price on shares of Western Digital and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. TD Cowen boosted their target price 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Western Digital from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Western Digital from $800.00 to $740.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 575,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,287,591.02. This trade represents a 3.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $459.87, for a total value of $825,466.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 25,437 shares of company stock worth $11,461,345 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,602,927,000. ABS Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth $1,226,342,000. Anther Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $901,601,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth about $885,565,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $788,729,000. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Stock Performance

WDC opened at $456.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $157.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 2.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $473.74 and a 200-day moving average of $464.09. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $105.42 and a 52-week high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its 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. Western Digital had a return on equity of 48.15% and a net margin of 72.95%.The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 19.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital’s payout ratio is currently 2.48%.

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.