Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Western Digital hit a new 52-week high after JPMorgan Chase raised its price target from $530 to $650 and kept an overweight rating. The stock traded as high as $655 and closed well above its previous finish.
• Analyst sentiment remains bullish overall, with several firms recently lifting targets or ratings, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Rosenblatt, and Zacks. MarketBeat shows a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating, though the average price target is still far below the latest JPMorgan target.
• The company posted strong quarterly results and raised its dividend, reporting EPS of $2.72 versus $2.39 expected and revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45.5% year over year. Western Digital also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.15 per share from $0.13.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $530.00 to $650.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Western Digital traded as high as $655.00 and last traded at $628.7410, with a volume of 1881789 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $562.92.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Western Digital from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Western Digital from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Western Digital from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $450.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 value of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 90,041 shares in the company, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,322 shares of company stock valued at $12,768,550. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IMG Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Western Digital by 853.8% during the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 124 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 132 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 80.2% in the 1st quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 92.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $447.23 and its 200 day moving average is $309.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.30 billion, a PE ratio of 38.02 and a beta of 2.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.25 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 55.29% and a return on equity of 42.95%. Western Digital's quarterly revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.400 EPS. Analysts expect that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Digital Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. This is a positive change from Western Digital's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 3.58%.

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.