Melius Research Upgrades Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Melius Research upgraded Western Digital to “strong-buy,” adding to an increasingly bullish analyst picture. Overall, the stock now has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus price target of $484.04.
• Western Digital beat earnings expectations in its latest quarterly report, posting $2.72 EPS on $3.34 billion in revenue, both above estimates. Revenue rose 45.5% year over year, and the company also issued Q4 2026 EPS guidance of 3.10 to 3.40.
• The stock has seen notable interest from institutions and insiders. Hedge funds own about 92.51% of the shares, while several insiders have recently sold stock under pre-arranged trading plans.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Melius Research to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on WDC. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $310.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $484.04.

Western Digital Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $638.72 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $529.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $352.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.13 and a beta of 2.13. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $62.94 and a 12-month high of $799.87.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The firm's revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Western Digital will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 432 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.60, for a total value of $235,699.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 116,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $63,640,420.80. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,905,270.79. The trade was a 4.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock worth $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth approximately $788,729,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 11.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,805,463 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,884,000 after buying an additional 384,103 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,804,907 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $456,737,000 after acquiring an additional 402,981 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Western Digital by 4,923.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,407,042 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $409,049,000 after acquiring an additional 3,339,225 shares during the period. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Western Digital by 1,926.3% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,061,134 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $195,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,910,062 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Melius Research initiated coverage of Western Digital with a Buy rating and a price target implying significant upside, boosting investor confidence in the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted about 55% upside for Western Digital and noted bullish options flow, with call buying outpacing put buying, suggesting traders are positioning for further gains. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Western Digital has been screening as a top momentum name in AI infrastructure, helped by strong earnings trends and continued demand tied to storage needs. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent market commentary says Western Digital remains in a strong bullish trend and is trading well above its 200-day moving average, which supports the stock technically but does not add a major new catalyst. Article Title

Western Digital Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.