Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading Up 2.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price rose 2.5% on Monday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $310.00 to $450.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $453.83 and last traded at $442.36. Approximately 10,140,731 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average daily volume of 9,375,422 shares. The stock had previously closed at $431.52.

Several other brokerages have also commented on WDC. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $488.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $395.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $377.09, for a total transaction of $136,883.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 120,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,259,473.07. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 8,518 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.32, for a total transaction of $2,174,815.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 99,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,347,148.32. This trade represents a 7.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 72,711 shares of company stock valued at $19,191,604 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts pushed targets sharply higher after Western Digital’s Q3 beat and strong commentary on AI-driven demand — one note lifted a target to $660, supporting the rally. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Surges as Analysts Set $660 Price Target Following Q3 Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Robert W. Baird raised its price target to $450 and kept an outperform rating, adding institutional validation to the upside narrative. Baird raises WDC price target to $450 / Outperform
• Positive Sentiment: Investor-focused coverage flags a near-term event to watch: a June 5 date tied to a dividend increase theme, underpinned by strong earnings and ongoing AI storage demand. This calendar event can attract income and momentum buyers. Dear Western Digital Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for June 5
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentators and retail-focused pieces (Zacks, Yahoo) are highlighting WDC as a trending/most-searched stock and debating whether it’s a buy now — increasing visibility but offering mixed buy/sell signals. Is Trending Stock Western Digital Corporation (WDC) a Buy Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst-forecast coverage (TipRanks and Zacks pieces) is focused on forward EPS and what to expect post-Q3 — useful for positioning but not uniformly bullish/negative. Western Digital (WDC) Stock Forecast — What Financial Analysts Expect after Q3 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Barchart’s sector piece compares Seagate and WDC in the AI storage duopoly — it highlights similar tailwinds but notes different market reactions; useful context for relative positioning rather than a direct catalyst. Seagate and Western Digital Are a Hard Disk Drive Duopoly. Barchart Ranks the Storage Stocks Here.
• Negative Sentiment: Despite record gross margin (over 50%), some analysts said WD’s gross-margin guidance was more modest than expected — a disappointment that tempered upside for some investors. Western Digital’s gross margin surpasses 50% for first time ever, yet some analysts wanted more
• Negative Sentiment: There was an earlier gap-down in WDC shares noted in market coverage, which can reflect short-term profit-taking or headline-driven volatility even as fundamentals improve. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Western Digital by 12.3% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,317 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $6,281,000 after purchasing an additional 5,731 shares during the period. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth $641,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at $34,244,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 75.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 9,465 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,778,000 after buying an additional 4,068 shares during the period. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 399.8% during the third quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. now owns 32,487 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,900,000 after buying an additional 25,987 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Western Digital Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $314.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $234.84. The firm has a market cap of $149.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.41, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 8.68 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.99%.

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.