Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Rosenblatt Securities

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its price objective reduced by Rosenblatt Securities from $800.00 to $650.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

WDC has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group set a $435.00 price objective on Western Digital and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Western Digital from $740.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Western Digital from $720.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $591.04.

Western Digital Price Performance

Shares of WDC opened at $343.67 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $432.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $480.74. Western Digital has a 1-year low of $121.85 and a 1-year high of $799.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The data storage provider reported $4.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.11 by $0.53. The company had revenue of $4.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 55.62% and a net margin of 69.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 55.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 19.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.1750 per share. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.33%.

Insider Activity at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 1,795 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider owned 80,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,052,185.77. This represents a 2.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $478.36, for a total value of $481,708.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 112,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,436 shares of company stock worth $11,340,064. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Western Digital by 71.4% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 230,578 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $147,275,000 after purchasing an additional 96,078 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,694,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,599,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,466,000. Finally, Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,307,000. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital reported fiscal Q1 2027 adjusted EPS of $4.64, above the roughly $4.09–$4.11 consensus, while revenue rose 55.5% year over year to $4.38 billion. Growth was driven by strong cloud and data-center demand, higher-capacity drives and improved pricing. Western Digital Q1 earnings and revenues beat estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued substantially stronger-than-expected fiscal Q2 guidance, calling for revenue of approximately $5.0 billion to $5.2 billion and adjusted EPS of $5.60 to $6.00, versus consensus estimates near $4.5 billion and $4.72, respectively. Western Digital forecasts strong second-quarter growth
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related storage demand remains durable, with management citing growing requirements from inference, robotics and long-term data retention. Analysts and industry commentators expect HDDs to remain an important, cost-effective storage layer for data centers, potentially supporting demand visibility into 2030–2031. Western Digital CEO discusses durable AI storage demand
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital generated about $1.38 billion in free cash flow and increased its quarterly dividend 16.7% to $0.175 per share. JPMorgan also raised its price target to $650 and maintained an overweight rating. Western Digital Q1 revenue and dividend update
• Neutral Sentiment: Other analysts remained bullish but reduced some price targets, reflecting elevated expectations and uncertainty around the pace of future growth. TD Cowen, for example, lowered its target to $430 while retaining a buy rating; Rosenblatt and Cantor Fitzgerald also cut targets but remained positive.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s strong results were not enough to overcome a broad sell-off in AI, memory and technology shares. Investors are questioning whether hyperscaler capital spending can remain elevated and whether Western Digital’s unusually strong HDD pricing and margins are sustainable.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher planned capital expenditures, possible industry supply increases, inventory concerns and execution risks surrounding the HAMR technology transition are weighing on sentiment. Management also acknowledged that HDD price growth could eventually moderate. Western Digital faces capex and supply concerns
• Negative Sentiment: A disclosed insider sale of 807 shares worth approximately $306,660 added a modest sentiment overhang, although it was conducted under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and represented only a small portion of the insider’s holdings. SEC insider transaction filing

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) is a data storage technology company that develops and manufactures hard disk drives (HDDs) and related storage solutions. Its products are used in data centers, cloud infrastructure, enterprise systems, personal computers, gaming platforms and external storage devices.

The company offers HDD-based products for business and consumer applications, including high-capacity drives designed for hyperscale and cloud data centers, enterprise storage environments, network-attached storage systems and personal computing.