Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.8889.

Several equities research analysts have commented on WDC shares. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $40.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. BNP Paribas reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Benchmark raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $45.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 14,067 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.78, for a total value of $1,051,930.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 135,351 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,121,547.78. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 11,343 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.29, for a total transaction of $1,024,159.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 151,596 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,687,602.84. This represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 49,975 shares of company stock valued at $3,935,806 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WDC. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in shares of Western Digital by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 7,161 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,674 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,431 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,626,850 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $97,009,000 after acquiring an additional 346,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 36,301 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $2,165,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Western Digital Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ WDC traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $97.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,751,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,141,993. Western Digital has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $98.86. The company has a market capitalization of $34.07 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $76.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.20.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Western Digital has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.540-1.690 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.