Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Announces Dividend Increase - $0.15 Per Share

Key Points

• Dividend raised 20% — Western Digital increased its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share (ex‑dividend date June 5, payable June 17), implying a very low yield of about 0.1%.
• Strong quarterly beat and positive outlook — the company beat recent EPS and revenue estimates (EPS $2.13 vs. $1.93; revenue $3.02B vs. $2.93B), management raised guidance, and analysts (e.g., Rosenblatt) have lifted price targets on improving AI/hyperscaler demand and margins.
• Market reaction and sustainability — shares traded near $440 after the news but remain volatile with profit‑taking risk after large prior gains; the dividend is conservatively covered (payout ratio ~9.1%), supporting sustainability of the payout.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the data storage provider on Wednesday, June 17th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. This is a 20.0% increase from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

Western Digital has raised its dividend by an average of 0.6%per year over the last three years. Western Digital has a dividend payout ratio of 9.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Western Digital to earn $13.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.50 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 3.7%.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock traded up $5.81 on Friday, hitting $440.33. The stock had a trading volume of 4,332,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,196,042. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $43.60 and a 52-week high of $441.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. The company's 50 day moving average price is $314.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $233.19.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 8.61 EPS for the current year.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 results beat — WDC reported revenue of $3.34B (up ~45% YoY) and EPS $2.72, topping estimates; management raised FY‑Q4 guidance (EPS and revenue). This is the primary fundamental driver supporting the stock. Earnings Release & Call
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher targets — Rosenblatt raised its price target from $340 to $500 and gave a "buy" rating; other brokers (reported TD Cowen/Blockonomi) have also lifted targets, supporting further upside expectations. Rosenblatt PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Demand tailwinds & product mix — Management and peers signaled continuing enterprise/hyperscaler spending for AI storage, which is improving pricing power and margins for nearline HDDs and cloud SSDs. Reuters: AI Storage Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Capital returns — WDC announced a 20% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.15 and had earlier authorized a $4B share‑repurchase program; both support long‑term shareholder returns but are less likely to move price intraday.
• Negative Sentiment: Late profit‑taking and "buy the rumor, sell the news" dynamics — Despite the beats, several outlets noted the stock slipped and pulled back as traders locked in gains after a near‑900% 12‑month run for the group. Yahoo: Stock Falls Despite Beat
• Negative Sentiment: Sector rotation and volatility — Coverage notes the broader "memory trade" is showing choppy flows; strong prior gains in WDC/STX increase the chance of short‑term pullbacks even after positive fundamentals. MarketWatch: Memory Trade Faltering
• Negative Sentiment: Pre‑market/peer volatility — Early pre‑market movers included SanDisk and other memory names trading lower, adding pressure to WDC in overnight sessions. Benzinga: Pre‑Market Movers

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.

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