Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 2% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Western Digital shares rose 2% to $473.69, with trading volume below its average. Analysts have a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $534.56, though ratings range from “Hold” to “Buy.”
• The company reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.56 beating estimates and revenue of $3.75 billion rising 43.8% year over year. Western Digital also issued first-quarter 2027 guidance of $3.85–$4.15 in EPS.
• Western Digital paid a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, equivalent to a 0.1% yield. Insiders sold $11.5 million of stock over the past quarter, while institutional investors own 92.51% of outstanding shares.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price traded up 2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $475.66 and last traded at $473.69. 4,990,529 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average daily volume of 8,587,012 shares. The stock had previously closed at $464.60.

Get Western Digital SMS alerts:

Sign Up

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Western Digital from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Western Digital from $530.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Mizuho set a $590.00 price target on Western Digital in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Melius Research set a $1,050.00 price target on Western Digital and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Western Digital from $900.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $534.56.

Western Digital Stock Up 2.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $163.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $475.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $461.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The data storage provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.31 by $0.25. Western Digital had a net margin of 72.95% and a return on equity of 48.15%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 43.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 3.850-4.150 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 19.65 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 8th. Western Digital's payout ratio is 2.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 575,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,287,591.02. The trade was a 3.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 1,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 112,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,650,465.80. This represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 25,437 shares of company stock valued at $11,461,345 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WDC. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Gables Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation NASDAQ: WDC develops, manufactures and sells data storage products and solutions for data centers, cloud service providers, enterprises, businesses and consumers. Its portfolio is centered on hard disk drives (HDDs), including high-capacity enterprise drives used in cloud and data center environments, as well as products for network-attached storage, surveillance and personal computing.

The company markets products under brands including Western Digital, WD, WD_BLACK and Ultrastar.

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.