Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) reached a new 52-week high on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $530.00 to $650.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $655.00 and last traded at $628.7410, with a volume of 1881789 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $562.92.

WDC has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $450.00 to $620.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Western Digital to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $450.46.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. This trade represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. The trade was a 3.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 9.2% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 357 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 33.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 4,707 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadcap Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Trading Up 12.5%

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $447.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $309.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a positive change from Western Digital’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. Western Digital’s payout ratio is 3.58%.

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.