Rosenblatt Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) had its target price increased by Rosenblatt Securities from $340.00 to $500.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the data storage provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on WDC. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group set a $500.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial set a $310.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $378.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $389.74.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of WDC stock traded down $2.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $432.03. The company had a trading volume of 15,448,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,646,722. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $314.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.19. Western Digital has a one year low of $43.60 and a one year high of $446.62. The firm has a market cap of $146.48 billion, a PE ratio of 43.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 49.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% on a year-over-year basis. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Western Digital will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is an increase from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Western Digital news, Director Matthew E. Massengill sold 36,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total value of $9,616,638.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 107,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 325.1% during the first quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 68,870 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $18,629,000 after acquiring an additional 52,670 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 23.5% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $158,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital during the first quarter worth $1,265,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 38.3% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 7,358 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,990,000 after acquiring an additional 2,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 257.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 72,692 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $19,663,000 after acquiring an additional 52,359 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat expectations: Q3 EPS $2.72 and revenue $3.34B, both above consensus, and management raised FY‑Q4 guidance (EPS and revenue) — this underpins the bullish case for continued AI/cloud storage demand. Earnings & press materials
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst upgrades/target raises followed the quarter — Citi hiked its target to $500 (Buy) citing stronger visibility into AI-driven HDD demand, lifting investor optimism. Citi raises target to $500
• Positive Sentiment: Other firms (Rosenblatt, TD Cowen and others) boosted targets or reiterated Buy as AI/data‑center demand drives margin expansion and share‑buyback capacity; the company also announced a quarterly dividend increase, signalling confidence in cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry signal — peers (SanDisk/Seagate) also reported strong results and demand commentary, confirming sector‑wide AI storage tailwinds but raising questions about how much of that is already priced in. Reuters: sector demand
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction was mixed — the stock slipped after the beat as some traders engaged in “buy the rumor, sell the news” profit‑taking following an enormous YTD run; elevated expectations mean strong results may not produce further immediate upside. Yahoo: stock falls despite beat
• Negative Sentiment: Not all analyst moves are bullish: UBS raised its target to $375 but kept a Neutral rating — that level implies downside from current prices and provides a near‑term anchor for traders focused on risk management. Benzinga: UBS target

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.