Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Jumps 6.1% – Here’s Why

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) shares were up 6.1% on Monday. The company traded as high as $356.25 and last traded at $352.21. 7,787,722 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 8,646,011 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on WDC shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $540.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $660.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Western Digital from $360.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $730.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $608.26.

Western Digital Trading Up 6.1%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $442.85 and a 200-day moving average of $478.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $53,650,465.80. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $444.97, for a total transaction of $8,899,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% 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 three months, insiders have sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter worth $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital

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.